


Among Stars

by JustBukharin



Category: Crest Diaries (Cancelled Webcomic), Las Lindas (Webcomic)
Genre: Elemental Magic, F/F, F/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:21:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 75,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25937338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustBukharin/pseuds/JustBukharin
Summary: The story of how a crew of misfits shattered the dominance of the Empire's tyranny. Their victories, their losses, and their ultimate fate. An odyssey across the endless frontier that is space!PREQUEL OF: The Golden Month
Kudos: 1





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

_ It all started a long time ago. _

_ The escalations of events that eventually saw me becoming what I am now led me to slowly forget what once represented my core, my entire being. _

_ But I still remember a young man that hesitated. Someone that was afraid of making large steps out of fear of stepping on shoes much larger than I could handle. _

_ My parents and teachers held high expectations for my future career, so much that I grew confident that my life would never be endangered by worrisome concerns. _

_ I had so much to live for, but so little trouble along the way to fear the worst. _

_ How wrong I was. _

…

_ And how glad I am for that. _

\----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d----------------

The aspirin was taking its time to finally enter into action.

After that lengthy last lecture about Inflation and Deflation that I was forced to sit for, my mind just wasn’t ready to make any serious commitments except for seeking the warmth of my bed. Or the couch in the living room, I wasn’t feeling too picky right now.

The hallways were bustling with people, most of whom were already leaving the large complex of buildings owned by the University.

Breathing calmly as I continued on my merry way towards the exit of Building 12, I ended up stopping as I felt someone rushing towards me from behind and… deliver a familiar slap on my neck.

Nothing painful, and definitely nothing unusual from the perception of my ‘colleagues’.

“ Wazzup, Matti!” The loud voice greeted, and I turned with a tiny scowl to face the grinning visage owned by my cousin.

He was taller than me by just a few inches, and the mature look he was going for with his full beard, shoulder-length blond hair, and intellectual clothes was enough to dignify the kind of clown I was dealing with.

While the approach I was displaying sounded overly negative, especially with how strange it sounded odd considering our blood relation, the reasoning behind my dislike for my cousin.

Popular, careless, reprimanded more than once but protected by his rich father…

And also the bane of my existence ever since dad asked me to enroll here in Milan so that I could reconnect with… the rest of the family.

Not that I had anything against the city, Milan was still a beauty to the eyes despite the smog and the prevalence of pompous rich people wandering most quarters.

I still managed to find my peace despite how different it felt compared to the United States.

And then again, I saved myself from facing more trouble when I was asked if I would want to live with my Uncle and Aunt, or get one of these cheap flats available to students to the University.

Despite the fact that it was quite cramped as a place to spend five years living in, I knew that no comfort would’ve softened the nightmare that would’ve been living with my cousin’s family.

He knew that too, and the unwillingness to spend too much time around the other was mutual.

But the situation that now sees us met up by the entrance of the school wasn’t motivated by any emotional attachment or crap like that.

No, the issue was… that blackmail is a troublesome thing.

Sure, I was pretty much the average guy by look, and I still had my own limitations over my standing here at the Uni. But my cousin knew a detail that would pretty much screw my chances of having a peaceful stay here in Italy.

It was just a psychological issue of mine, a trauma that I ended up suffering for when I was much younger.

A little child and its fear of the unknown.

Sounds ominous, and confusing… but the reality of things is far more embarrassing.

Too embarrassing if I had to be honest.

I was… quick to panic when I ended up in unknown places. Someone that could be trusted to have around me while I explored this new place and… that’s why my cousin was told of this very matter.

He was meant to keep an eye out of me if I ended up in settings I wasn’t aware about, and to never leave my proximity during the first day at Uni.

And to be fair, he did comply with the request and never left my side during the entire first day at my newest ‘school’.

Then he started noticing how talented I was with some of the subjects we both shared.

It was rare for two different faculties to share similar subjects, but this situation only ended up favoring him and his devious plan in exploiting my problem.

Classic homework blackmail, with the blackmail being more elaborated and more difficult to deal without messing up the delicate equilibrium that existed between us.

If I messed up something, he would’ve _spilled the beans_ to some people that would definitely abuse this kind of weakness to their own amusement.

There were a couple of jocks at the University that would’ve surely loved to learn that fact about me and… I wasn’t in the mood to be targeted to the end of my visit here in Northern Italy.

Common sense dictated finding proof and help, but even then the problem wasn’t physical or ‘even remotely bullying’. Asking teachers proved to be fruitless, and I knew when I needed to stop and allow the frustrating situation to continue.

All for the sake of not seeing it explode on my face, that is.

“ Eugenio, what do you want?” I regarded him with a calm tone, his grin faltering a little bit at the hint of annoyance on my face.

“ You know, I was just checking if we’re still doing that group session for tomorrow,” The young man reminded me. “The boys are all eager to be ‘enlightened’ by your skills, cuz! And it would be saddening if you were busy or-”

“ You know  _ I’m always happy to help my good cousin _ .” I even added the fake smile to get him to leave as quickly as possible and…

It worked, much to my immense relief.

“ Understood! I’m glad that we are so close as a family,” He rebuked before ruffling my hair in the most infuriating manner. “See you tomorrow then, Matti!”

I stared at him leaving, and then I frowned when I saw him pull an umbrella and open it before leaving.

It took me a moment to realize that it was raining.

And I had left my umbrella back home.

…

_ Today is not my day. _

Sighing dryly at the pitiful end of this school day, I proceeded to place my phone and wallet inside my water-proof bag. Once I was done with the simple task, I walked out of the cover offered by the building’s inside and braved the storm-like rain that was domineering the entire city.

It wasn’t a novelty for Milan to be subjected to this kind of weather, but it was also true that winter had yet to settle and that this degree of raining was quite… heavier than predicted by any recent forecasts.

Still, I decided to ignore the fact that something odd was going on with the rain. People were rushing as quickly as possible to their homes, perhaps feeling that this was just the beginning of a true storm.

I followed their example, and started to pick up the pace despite the chilling cold that was hurting my tired bones as the freezing water easily reached my skin through my clothes.

Gritting my teeth, I kept up a vigilant state whenever I had to cross the road. Mist had started to settle, and my sight was growing more limited the more I wandered the city.

I wouldn’t be surprised that someone was still driving despite the terrible weather, and I wasn’t taking my chances in getting hit by some moron’s mistake.

A cough exploded from my lips, the cold starting to bring in more symptoms of hypothermia. I was far from freezing, but I could easily catch the common cold if I wasn’t wary of how long I stayed outdoors.

The natural silence created by the constant fall of rain drops worsened my means of keeping tracks of any incoming vehicles and soon… I saw something dreadful while I was in the middle of crossing one of the bigger streets in the city.

The blinding white light that came from the direction where cars would come from got me to stop for a moment, the brightness being enough of a distraction to catch me off-guard.

I froze in panic as I noticed that I was standing in the middle of the road despite the fact a vehicle was coming my way and… I braced for the worst when I saw the light intensifying more and more.

But I couldn’t hear any car’s noises. Nor could I see any silhouette behind that light.

Instead of being pushed away,  _ I was pulled. _

And in that strange development, I tripped over myself and onto a… warmer floor.

It wasn’t asphalt and… I quickly realized that it wasn’t raining anymore.

My clothes were still drenched and… I was no longer outdoors.

I glanced up, my eyes widening as I realized that I was in a large room packed with people of various kinds.

…

And I was using ‘people’ in a loose manner considering their appearances. Bipedal, humanoid… but not human. They all looked like… animals?

I felt my breath hitch, and my throat tighten a little bit. The prelude of a panic attack, but I held back some more as I tried to understand the madness I was pulled into.

Something this big- I knew that I just couldn’t hope for anything to go wrong for me if I put myself in that troublesome state.

There was some whispering all around the room, but my attention was stolen by a pair of… women.

The oldest of the two, both red-haired and with traits I could only relate to Coyote, stood up from her chair and glanced at me with a kind look. A motherly look.

I guess the younger one, which was currently regaling me with a fascinated look, was her daughter.

Waiting patiently as the lady prepared to speak… I ended up frowning when I was regarded with a language I couldn’t recognize.

At first the woman didn’t seem to catch on with my confusion, but then a ‘buffalo’ man beside her approached her to whisper to her something.

He was wearing what looked to be a mix of antique armor and some modern garbs. I blinked at the mere idea that I had been kidnapped by… aliens?

I could only think of this as an abduction. I had been kidnapped by a race of creatures which were possibly going to do odd things to me.

Now that worry finally got me to panic seriously. This wasn’t the standard new place in a new city.

No, this was a literal otherworldly experience. One that I wasn’t going to enjoy considering how many warrior-looking people were staring at me.

Finally I felt my chest compressing, and my lips parted to try and keep the air flowing one way or another.

But just as I started to feel the aching sensation behind that panic attack and the headache forming at the lack of oxygen, I felt a pair of warm hands press softly on the temples of my head from behind me.

My breath… regularized. I felt my lungs slowly regaining a correct pacing, and I felt my clothes drying up almost instantaneously.

“ W-What?” I muttered as I turned to deal with who was responsible for… helping me?

And I felt my jaws dropping when I was faced with the smiling look of an angel. And it wasn’t just a correlation to her beauty.

The heavenly-looking woman had some animal features herself, most prominently the pair of long ears that seemed familiar to the ones the mother-daughter duo had.

“ Greeting, child of Terra,” The divine being greeted. “I’m Apogeo, the heart of Prism, and I have a mission for you in regard to a grand and just deed.”

I frowned. “What?”

Her lips twitched, a hint of amusement at my persisting confusion.

“ You’ve been chosen and summoned to become a paladin of good, a protector of innocents, and a savior of what remains of Prism, my former home,” She elaborated with a calm voice. “You will become a sword, a justice-doer… you shall become a Knight.”

Before I had the chance of saying anything about this, I noticed a strange yellow gem forming in her hands and she… held the odd sphere for me to take.

I stared at it, initially reluctant to go through and pick that up… but then I felt a buzzing coming from the back of my head. A need, a craving… I felt this was right for me to do.

And so I ended up complying. Once I had it in my hold, I looked up to Apogeo and expected her to say more but… she started to shine brightly.

“ For now I shall leave you to gain a better understanding of your stay here,” The spirit-like Angel muttered. “My duty here as a messenger and as a gift-giver has been completed. May you find-”

“ W-Wait! What about my family?” I asked nervously, actually holding her from fully leaving. Her blue eyes widened in surprise at that interruption. “I-I understand that this is an important job, but… but I wish to at least to tell them that-”

“ You will return to the very moment you left your world,” Apogeo promised with a truthful tone. “I’m happy to see how you care about them… and I know you’ll make them proud here. I leave you in trustworthy hands, young human.”

I blinked at that assurance, this time allowing the being to vanish from my sight as I was returned to the reality of things.

Silence greeted me as I found myself dealing with the awkward situation that I was thrown into before speaking with Apogeo.

Trustworthy hands. That’s how the genuine spirit had described the group of animal-like people.

I tried to gather my wits as I prepared for quite the awkward conversation.

How should I address them? They weren’t human… but they were still sentient beings.

I gritted my teeth at this very obstacle.

Why is this so frustrating? Why couldn’t I have been given some more info of what is going on now instead of being given everything of… nothing?!

I started to stand up, barely noticing that someone had walked up to me and… was now staring at me with a curious look.

“ Human?” A feminine voice said with an intrigued tone, urging me to turn to grace the sudden query. “Is this what you are? You’re a human?”

It was the woman that was trying to speak but I couldn’t understand. And now I could understand her for some strange reason.

Could it be that Apogeo did more than just fixing me up?

“ Y-Yes, ma’am,” I replied politely, frowning at the unexpected approach. “And if it’s not too… impolite to ask, may I inquire to who I’m speaking to?”

I saw some people tensing up at my polite question, fueling my frown as I waited for an answer.

The Coyote gave me a mirthful nod, her green eyes hinting a playful side coming to play right now.

“ You may, young man,” She replied with a nod. “I’m Queen Rehema of Prism, the current ruler of… what is left of our long gone homeworld.”

“ Your majesty,” The same Buffalo man tried to interrupt, only to pause at a mere glance thrown by his life.

“ But now I wish to know your name,” The Queen continued, her interest peaking as it was easily displayed on her visage. “It’s only common courtesy.”

I nodded, agreeing to that point and… taking a moment to properly kneel.

“ I’m Mattia Castelnuovo. And I’m glad to make your acquaintance, Queen Rehema.”

…

There was an unusual amount of silence at my introduction, but soon I was given some response. Except it wasn’t through words.

Her hands were carefully over my head, checking on my hair before trailing down my face. She cupped my cheeks and lifted my stare up to her face.

“ Your skin is smooth. And your hair is well-cared,” The woman mused. “I guess there’s not much difference between a human and a Prime.”

Prime? Is this their species’ name?

I was once again deprived of the chance to inquire more about this when our attention was taken away by a loud snort.

Green eyes bored onto me from the safety of the younger Coyote’s chair. The girl looked slightly annoyed, if not frustrated by the scene.

“ Is there something wrong, Adela?”

I continued staring at her irked look, and she kept on gazing at me with that display of irritation.

“ Mother, I remind you that this  _ human  _ is meant to be my knight. You already have Roland to protect you,” The younger woman remarked dryly. “And I wish to speak with him. In private.”

The sudden demand got the entire room to a tense standstill. I could see the Queen regard her daughter with a perplexed look… and yet she sighed and nodded, accepting the request.

“ I suppose it’s correct for you to request this,” Rehema conceded. “But I remind you that our time here is limited, and we can’t afford to be there when the Empire-”

“ I know, mother,” The young redhead interjected with a quick nod. “And I will not waste too much time with my… protector.”

The way she addressed me felt almost mocking, if not insulting. There was a degree of disdain and… I felt narrowing my eyes back at her with this kind of attitude.

Princess or not, I wasn’t going to allow someone like her to just boss me around just like that.

_**If only I knew that an irritated princess was going to be the least of my worries in the next few hours.** _

**\-------------d-d-d-d-----------------d-d-d-d---------------d-d-d-d-----------**

**AN**

** And so it begins! The tale forgotten by history books, the legend of those that brought a conclusion to the galactic war! **

  
  



	2. Hollow Victory

**Chapter 2: Hollow Victory**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

I was unsure what was going to happen now that I was alone with Adela.

We were alone in what looked to be a utility room, and the dim light there offered a chilling effect to the intense staring that her green eyes were throwing at me.

“Your name is… Mattia,” She stated with a fascinated tone. “A strange name… you’re also not a Prime.”

I could only nod at that summary, but the following sigh leaving her lips suggested that she wasn’t inherently impressed by the matter.

“You don’t look much like a knight.”

Blinking, I regaled her with a shrug. “I wasn’t one before being summoned here.”

And that revelation got her to scowl.

“Then why have you been chosen if you’re not even capable of fighting?”

I frowned. “What? How does me not being a knight mean that I can’t fight?”

“Well, you don’t have the size and the appearance of a real warrior.”

Does a warrior need to be tall, bulky, and incredibly arrogant?

What a childish notion of fighters…

“Well, I guess I’m just not like the others,” I pointed out, ending up only aggravating her even more.

“ _Well,_ I don’t want some unprepared fool as my guard.”

Adela took a step forward, I was fully attentive of what she was trying to accomplish, and then I sidestepped when she suddenly threw a punch towards me.

The attack missed, but her intense stare was still on me.

Silence followed as she kept on trying to hit me. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I soon noticed that her pace kept on increasing each time she failed to land some damage on me.

Quiet, confusing, and terribly frustrating.

Dodging was something that I learned to master when I was targeted as an ‘easy prey’ back in High School during Dodgeball games.

The secret behind my ‘perfect’ evasion was the capacity to know when to move at the last second. Only then there are less chances of being hit once again so suddenly.

And just like that silly sport, my footwork was enough to unbalance and surprise my unexpected attacker.

Adela’s frustration proved legitimate since she seemed to have a decent understanding of how to brawl with her bare hands. But the more this one-sided spar went on, the more her irritation was replaced by a sense of confusion.

Ultimately the young woman paused, her body still tense but restraining from keeping on that senseless assault.

“This- This is a fight! Why are you just dodging?”

Wait, what? And how was I supposed to realize that this was what she was asking for.

Still, I wasn’t planning to sound overly rude. She was already angry, and I didn’t see a reason to antagonize her any further.

“If you tire out doesn’t that mean I win?”

The rebuttal only got the Coyote Prime to snarl, her fists tightening in a clear display of irritation.

“Then you’re not a knight, but a coward.”

Under normal circumstances, I would’ve allowed that childish slight to go by… but at this point, I knew that ignoring her about it was just going to worsen up my chances of being in a formally good relationship with my new ward.

I wasn’t even sure how this ‘knighthood’ was going to go since I barely knew how the moral code and duties were for knights. I was a novice, a rookie.

But that didn’t mean I was going to just bow my head to some arrogant brat.

So when she threw another punch out, stretching her closed fist towards me, I didn’t just dodge. I moved closer, and I took a brief moment to study her current position.

Dad once taught me how to restrain someone without hurting them. Having worked with people that were known for their vicious bouts of anger, the old timer was ultimately forced to learn how to defend himself without becoming himself an aggressive individual.

My opponent didn’t seem to realize what was going to happen as I got hold of her extended arm. In fact, Adela noticed that something was off over my approach when she suddenly ended up on the floor.

But as she tried to stand up and recover from that fall, she found her efforts voided by me suddenly pressing one of my knees onto her back. It was easier to regulate the weight with just that, and I knew that outright sitting on her would be way too painful than what I wanted.

Struggling, her legs kicked around while her fluffy tail whipped left and right. Her palms were pressing on the ground, trying and failing to push me off.

She snarled, her frustration revamped at that unexpected development, but there wasn’t much for her to do as I was positioned.

“Just yield,” I muttered.

“No!”

…

“Adela-”

“I refuse to surrender!” She remarked sternly, keeping on struggling for a couple more seconds.

…

“Why?”

The young woman tensed up, her head turning to face me with a confused glance. “What?”

“Why are you fighting like this? What did I do to deserve this much hate?”

She scowled. “As if I would hate someone for being what they are. It doesn’t mean I should accept the first wimpy kid that is summoned.”

“You mean the ‘wimpy kid’ that won this little spar?”

There wasn’t an answer to that, prompting me to sigh at her stubbornness.

“Okay, how about you just stop and we start this again with a proper-”

“No.”

I frowned, starting to get irked at that. “You’re quite rude.”

“And you’re a pervert.”

My frown deepened.

“What?”

“Do you enjoy this?” She pressed on without hesitation. “Do you feel happy to see me submitted and-”

“Chill! What the heck are you going for right now?!” I exclaimed with an embarrassed tone.

“Just stating how I see this-”

“You were the one that ‘started’ this spar, then you provoked me to move and win,” I started to say, pausing at her snort. “And I won since you’re unable to fight as you are right now. But I didn’t ask for this to happen, nor I take pleasure in returning frustration with my own.”

Her harsh look softened for a moment, and her sight darted away as the princess took a moment to evaluate what I was saying.

“I’m sorry.”

…

I blinked, slowly relinquishing the hold my knee had over her back and standing up.

Sighing, Adela shook her head as she kept on laying on the floor for a moment. “I didn’t admit defeat.”

“It’s a spar. Not a life-threatening fight,” I reminded her. “And as far as I’m concerned, we both win this fight.”

Her eyes widened at my words, but did even more as the Coyote Prime noticed that I was stretching a helping hand towards her.

“Please, stand up.”

There was silence at first as the young woman contemplated the offer. Then she sighed and took my hand into hers, helping herself up.

Instead of letting go as she was now standing up, she stared in clear surprise at my palm and squeezed a little bit at it.

“Mother was right,” She pondered out loud. “Your hand is soft… even though there is no fur on it.”

I blinked at the comment. “Well, your hand is soft and warm too...”

…

It took us a moment to realize the kind of situation that was unfolding, and my face warmed up a little bit as the truth struck me worse than a high-speed train.

The princess had some red hue by her cheeks, but she seemed to sobered up as quickly as I did.

“Sorry.”

Blinking again, I nodded at her in agreement. “Sorry.”

A tiny smile appeared on Adela’s face. “You’re… not that bad. Sure, you’re not much of a knight but-”

“I kicked your butt,” I remarked dryly, getting a faux gasp from her.

“Speaking so crudely to a princess? I wonder about what scandalous rumors that would emerge from this!”

…

We both chuckled, with her turning in a round of giggles as soon as I joined her up.

“N-Not gonna lie, but you don’t seem like the classic ‘damsel in distress’ kind of lady.”

A huff left her lips. “T-That’s because it’s more of a people. Prism was destroyed five centuries ago and… our family is always running from the Empire.”

I blinked at the final notion. An Empire, perhaps hellbent on evil stuff, was hunting down the small group of survivors of a planet that was destroyed ages ago.

For a moment I was reminded of the classic sci-fi movies, but then I reminded myself of how odd it would be to correlate Star Wars to this reality. Not because of the details available, but because of the chances of me being one of the characters.

_Wait, since I was the one ‘called in’ for the job of protecting royalty, does that make me Han Solo?_

The inner thought was suddenly interrupted as the entire building started to shake, prompting the two of us to tense up at the strange and unexpected development.

“Was that...” Adela started, her face showing some worry.

“An explosion.”

And a big one considering the tremor that went through the entire compound. I didn’t check the entire size of the place, but I was fairly sure it was a massive setting to house the large group of people.

The princess tensed up even more as something made her panic. “Wait, the Empire is here and- mother!”

The Coyote Prime rushed away from my proximity and through the previously closed door, slamming it open and running away while ignoring my attempt to stop her.

Gritting my teeth, I stared at the now open door and contemplated over the fact that I had to give chase considering my duties to her.

…

Then I groaned when I realized that I didn’t know where I was supposed to go, nor I knew my way out of this place.

“And where am I supposed to go now?” I muttered, grimacing the fact I hadn’t asked for directions before leaving for this private conversation with the girl.

_Seriously, why can’t I be more decisive about these kinds of important topics!?_

Just as I prepared myself to venture into the unknown and hope to survive any eventual panic attack or malicious assault, I found myself stopping as… something in my pocket started to burn.

I pulled out the gem that Apogeo left me, the bright yellow thing shining in a fiery display of light before it lifted itself off my palm and into the air.

The light intensified suddenly and soon… I was greeted with a relieved sigh.

“Finally, I managed to complete the materialization process!” The small being that had replaced the gem suddenly exclaimed. “And just in time to-”

He paused, taking a moment to stare at me with a bright grin. He looked similar to Apogeo in terms of a spirit-like frame and angel-like wings, but his frame was incredibly smaller than the example used and… his face looked similar to mine.

Yellow eyes greeted me with a mirthful glint.

“And you’re my boss!”

…

“What?”

He didn’t hesitate with my question, in fact he ignored it as he slammed himself onto my chest, depriving me of some of the air in my lungs.

“Boss! I can’t believe you and I are finally together.”

“W-Who are you?!” I finally snapped, my frustration merely fueling the amusement of this unknown spirit.

“I’m me!” He rebuked happily. “But if I have to be honest, my name is… Archimedes.”

I blinked at the strange name. “Well, nice to meet you- _but what the heck?!_ ”

“I suppose Apogeo didn’t tell you the truth about the gift,” The spirit muttered, his mood dampened by my lack of reconciliation with his giddiness. “Well, I’m your guide for this important mission. I’m your personal Nanozell Spirit!”

…

“A Nano-what spirit?”

“A Nanozell spirit- it’s quite complicated to explain the fine details that led to my creation,” The young being stated. “But in simple terms, I’m something of an assistant and support to any fights. Also, I’ve a good understanding of technology and… yeah, that’s it.”

I frowned at it, and, while I wanted to inquire some more about this new ‘helper’, I remembered that I didn’t have the luxury of time at the moment.

“Okay, mhh… Archie? You can connect to the surveillance system of the place and… can you tell me where Adela is- and the queen?”

The spirit tensed up, his golden eyes widened in a state of awe and eagerness. “Archie? This- This is an affectionate nickname! Thank you, boss-”

“Archie, the request is urgent!” I pressed on, getting the ‘assistant’ to snap out of his genuine happy moment, his stare growing serious at my irritated tone.

“Sorry, boss- and from what I can tell from the cameras, the princess is currently running towards the Hangars,” Archie quickly replied. “The Queen was last spotted there and… there is a large amount of tainted individuals storming the base as of now.”

‘ _Tainted individuals’? Another question that will have to wait until I reach the two royal members._

“Okay then, can you gave me the safest route to-”

“There isn’t a ‘safe route’ right now, boss,” The Spirit interrupted grimly. “The place is completely swarmed by the corrupted ones, and it would be advised to pick a weapon… like the sword behind you.”

Frowning, I turned to look behind me and I spotted an open crate with a couple of protruding out of its inside.

I took the first sword I could find, giving it a tentative swing… before gritting my teeth at how unpleasantly unbalanced it felt.

_It’s still a blade, I guess._

“Archie, then give me the route with less enemies,” I muttered, preparing my mind for what was going to be truly a troublesome road to safety.

The spirit materialized a holographic map, further showing how useful his skills were to me right now, and he pinpointed where I was supposed to go to reach the hangars.

Nodding and allowing Archie to settle on my shoulder, I walked out of this utility room before running to where my destination was.

_**Time to see how terrible my… enemies were going to be.** _

\---------d-d-d-d----------

Things stayed rather uneventful during the first few minutes of my rush to reach the ‘exit’ and leave this dangerous place.

I could hear people clashing with each other from afar, and while I knew that while I could go and offer some assistance, I was more of a liability than anything else considering how weak of a fighter I was with a melee weapon.

The sword felt heavy, and I didn’t trust it to be able to help me through in a fair fight.

Despite that negative outlook, I was still hopeful to be able to survive and reach my destination without much of a worry.

What really got me this optimistic was the fact that I had managed to already avoid two fights with who were going to be my foes.

These tainted ones, the Narakhans, were surprisingly shorter than I was. Not enough to be considered dwarves by any mean, but I felt less threatened in fighting people that were a couple inches shorter than me and… also quite dumb from the way I outmaneuvered them.

The first time I dodged that kind of bullet was when two of the creatures had taken the role of garrisoning one of the hallways I had to cross.

They were hooded, malicious cackling-like noises leaving their covered lips from time to time, and while I would’ve been forced to confront both of them at once and take my chances of living through that unfair brawl, I was regaled a safe way out of that predicament by playing on their… lack of intelligence.

Archie once more proved his worth by opening two doors behind the two grunts, forcing them to turn around at the strange sounds and phenomenon, and driving them both to check.

Once they were far away, I quickly crouched-run to the other side of the corridor, never looking back at them as I quietly avoided that kind of fight.

Then I ended up dealing with five of them patrolling the halls in a somewhat ordered manner. It was a little more difficult to get a distraction going, but it all worked to my advantage.

Activating the anti-fire system, the halls were rained by the water accumulated by the simple system, drenching the group in water and forcing them to try and get hold of themselves as the floor became incredibly unstable to walk through with their bare feet.

A mad dash later that was seen by just one of the distracted Narakhans, I started to run again through the entire building, paying little attention to what was going on behind me.

I ended up dodging all possible problems much to my inner glee, but while I was spared to find obstacles of the murderous kind, I ended up arriving at my destination with a sense of dread taking over my entire being.

What I was supposed to find as a relieving conclusion to this scary trip from point A to point B ended up leaving me with a sense of strange worry.

Pushing the closed doors open, I expected to find a large group of people there waiting for the evacuation to begin. Maybe they had been waiting for Adela to be back, maybe also me, and now we could've left without dealing with the Empire any time soon.

But what my eyes were bestowed with was far from idyllic, and my jaws dropped at the horrifying sight I was granted.

I froze up as I noticed the numerous corpses littering most of the floor around, some of the Primes there were still alive, but just barely enough to make some desperate noises to try and receive medical help.

My breath tightened again, but before I had the chance to fight back the panic attack, my stare turned up to see that there was an ongoing fight within the room.

Adela snarled fiercely as she used her bow as efficiently as possible, with various arrows piercing through the thick skin of her opponent… which ended up being the very knight that was considered the Queen’s guard. Roland? I think that was the name the princess used to address him a while ago.

Speaking of Rehema, the older Prime was using her lance to keep her former ally at bay while her daughter kept on raining him with swift projectiles.

“You need to snap out of this!”

“ _**He will not!** _ ” A strange half-demonic voice shot back as the knight slammed the woman away through a brief clash of their weapons. “ _**He is gone now, the taint only proving how worthless his loyalty is to your petty cause.** _”

The Queen gasped as she impacted on the cement wall behind her, a painful crack-like noise disrupting the silence while blood started to pour out of her lips.

It was at that moment that I noticed the taint that was spreading all over the guy, and I sighed as I prepared for what was going to be an unavoidable brawl now.

My hands tightened their hold over the hilt of the sword, but before I rushed forward to commence the inevitable battle, I noticed that there were a couple of open boxes around and… one of those was filled with explosives.

At first glance I saw lots of grenades, but the more I delved, the more I noticed other stuff that could make things go out in flame and utter destruction.

My mind grew intrigued by this detail, and a good idea manifested. I turned to glance at my trusted helper that was even now staying by my shoulder.

“Archie, I need you to do something for me.”

The spirit listened, his grin widening at the brilliant plan I got out of that simple detail and he nodded as he prepared to snap into action with the four grenades I gave him.

I would’ve liked to pick some more, but then I got part of the classic villainous monologue the corrupted knight was giving.

“Y-You can fight it back,” Queen Rehema said as she tried and failed to stand up. Her wounds looked severe from this far, and I was sure the situation was even worse from a closer perspective.

“ _**Why would he need to fight it back if his duty is now forfeited! He already wounded his charge, he committed the sin of keeping quiet about this issue, and, worst of all, he will then slay your daughter and put an end to your line** _.”

The voice seemed to not be his, as if the big guy was being possessed or something.

Still, I could tell that I didn’t have much time to act and create a distraction, and so I jumped in action.

“Hey, you!” I half-yelled, swiftly getting the big guy’s attention. “Yes, you! The guy that is literally allowing some creepy bastard to take over and do all of this crap.”

“ _**And what are you?** _”

“A smarter guy, I reckon,” I sassily snapped. “And someone that is going to beat you without even trying.”

…

“ _**Is this common for your curious race, human? Suicidal tendencies?** _”

“Right now I’m the one with a clear sight at victory, and you have nothing but instincts,” I rebuked fiercely. “Which is why I’m the one standing above-”

“ _**I shall grant you a slow execution if you keep with this tune. I suggest you-** _”

“What? Are you a coward or something?!” I snapped back with more ‘arrogance’. “I bet you got lucky with the element of surprise, or else you would’ve lost easily. That’s why you’re a coward!”

…

“ _**I will kill you first then-** _” The corrupted knight stated.

“Your next words are going to be: I hope you’re ready for an early grave!” I added giddily, feeling the need to express some more the inspiration that got me this devious plan.

“ _**I hope you’re ready for an early gra- Wait, how did you-** _”

“I should be the one asking, especially since I know you will come at me running like a stupid coward you are-!!”

I almost screamed when I saw the guy rush towards me, a furious roar leaving his mouth as he came towards me with a pace faster than I had imagined.

He lifted his blade up, ready to slam it onto me and… I rolled forward, allowing the bastard to charge over me. Swiftly turning around, I slashed at the exposed bit on the back of his left leg and cut his tendons.

Blood exploded from the new wound, but it didn’t seem to deter my opponent as it quickly tried blindly stab backward to kill me. I rolled again, allowing the attack to fail.

Soon I switched tactics to something a little less ‘mind-based’ and more ‘dumb’, trying to keep up with his attacks by using my own sword to block his strikes.

Like I had predicted much earlier when I first took hold of this blade, its body was quick to collapse under the furious attacks.

At first it was just some denting and the blade bending under the duress, but soon the damage increased the faster his strikes became.

He yelled angrily as he gave one last strike, perfectly shattering the sword in my floor and forcing me to trip on the floor with how powerful that last hit was.

“ _**Where is your bravado, little Human!?** _ ” The corrupted Buffalo Prime gloated. “ _**Where is your… Uh?!** _”

He realized just in that moment that there was something off with his free hand. A small orb-like object that he was unconsciously squeezing and… he panicked as he threw the grenade back at me.

“A cheap trick! Prepare to die-!!”

His jaws dropped as he saw numerous strings coming from the explosive that were connected to… his mantle.

“H-How did you-”

Archie giggled as he quickly flied back to my shoulder, happily accepting a high-five as I happily waited for the big surprise to unfold

“A- A Spirit? You- how did you-”

**KA-BLAM!**

The explosion triggered by the various grenades attached on my opponent’s back was covered by his own body, but the blast was enough to get me to yelp just once at the magnitude of the grand finale.

The body was mostly vaporized, with some parts of his legs and legs surviving, and his sword tumbled down on the ground mere moments later.

I sighed in relief as I was spared from any shard from the shrapnel, but I quickly realized that the situation was far from over.

Standing up and picking the now abandoned sword to replace the one that got destroyed, I approached Adela as she kept on tending on… her dying mother.

The queen coughed more blood despite the best efforts displayed by her daughter to deal with the wounds she had suffered, her sight turning to greet her with a calm but happy look.

“You- You beat him.”

I merely nodded as I crouched, before I silently started to help where I could by pressing on one of the large wounds by her exposed thigh.

“You two… you should stop. There is- there is nothing to do for me,” The woman muttered quietly. “These wounds are too grave and… they got the last win.”

Frowning at her words, I merely turned to look at where she was pointing and… there was something on her neck.

A dark mark, like the tainted ones present on Narakhans’ bodies. Except this one was smaller… but still growing. It was like looking at a plague.

“M-Mom-”

“Now, my dear, I don’t want to- to see you cry so sadly when I’m passing away. I want to see a proud look on our- no, _my_ hope of seeing an end to this bloodshed,” The woman interrupted her daughter. Her trembling hand reached for the younger Prime’s face, giving a soft pat at her cheek. “I know you will do it. You’re not someone that gives up and… Mattia will protect you.”

I flinched as my name was brought up and I was regarded by her slightly unfocused green eyes.

“You… you will protect her,” The queen muttered softly. “Promise me, on- on my deathbed, that you will.”

…

“I- I will never leave her side,” I said, my throat aching at the sight of someone dying like this. I didn’t know her for more than just an interaction, and yet the way she looked so genuinely concerned for her daughter, but also optimistic for a brighter future, I knew that this was a good woman. Someone that was condemned to an unfair life and demise. And I couldn’t just accept that. “W-What if we- we try to save you- what if-”

“The taint can’t be cured, my dear. Not by natural means,” The dying lady interjected much to my growing sadness. “And even if there was a way… they wouldn’t allow you if I burden you.”

I frowned at her last sentence, turning slowly to greet four armored Primes approaching us. From the way they were looking at us, with their stern eyes locking on both Queen and Princess…

Tightening my hold over my new sword, I prepared to fight but-

“You two need- _cough_ \- to go.”

“Mother-”

“There is not much to do with me, but… but I can delay them. Now, _go- both of you!_ ”

Adela looked incredibly reluctant to leave her mother’s side, and the big guys were still getting closer.

Gritting my teeth, I knew that I couldn’t take these bastards even if I used all the explosives in the hangar. No, for this once I had to accept the need of retreating against my opponents.

The young Coyote Prime tried to force me to let go of her arm, but my firm hold resisted as I pulled her away from the dying queen and towards the closest entrance of the large spaceship meant to be used for the evacuation.

“A-Archie, go and take control of the commands-”

“N-No, please- We-”

“ _Prepare the commands!_ ” I stated fiercely as I found myself struggling to push the girl towards the small staircase that led inside the vehicle.

“Let- LET ME GO!” She screamed. “I DON’T WANT TO-”

She couldn’t finish that sentence as I ultimately shoved her inside, closing the door with the terminal inside and blocking her from reaching the panel to unlock.

“I-IT’S AN ORDER! LET ME GO, YOU-”

The spaceship rumbled as it went through a quick lift off, the ground trembling enough to force the girl to trip down and be unable to pressure me to get out of the ship.

At this point, I could feel my chest hurting at the fact I was forced to do this. I really didn’t want this to happen, but there was no chance for this to be a full victory.

Some time passed while the young woman struggled to stand up, but once the entire vehicle stabilized, she quickly rushed to the cockpit and I gave chase closely behind her to try and stop her.

But it was already too late for the two of us to do anything as Archie had managed to get us out of the planet’s atmosphere. The place looked like a massive forest-filled biome that had just a gray spot that was the large building we had just left.

“Take us back!” The Princess screamed. “We have to go back and-”

Her words died in her throat as a strange light encompassed the entire compound in what looked to be a…

…

“An explosion,” I muttered with a drained tone. “Did- was this the Queen that-”

“While I checked the database of the base, I learned that the remote control of all explosives was given to only Queen Rehema,” Archie explained tensely. “I didn’t think that… it would’ve come to this.”

Adela was deadly silent, her wide green eyes were locked on that bright spot.

“Ade-Gah!”

She turned quickly around and delivered a sucker punch square on my nose. The hit was more of a surprise than a painful attack, but I still stumbled back while she rushed away from the cockpit to another room in the ship.

“K-Keep an eye out for her,” I muttered nervously, getting a nod from the Spirit. But just as he seemed quite calm about this, his golden eyes suddenly widened in fright.

“B-Boss, the ship’s detection system has spotted numerous unknown objects coming towards us. I think it’s… the Empire.”

Panic swelled in my chest at that news. “Then get us out of there. Just take us away from this, no specific destination!”

The spirit nodded and soon the ship rumbled again as its speed started to pick up.

Sitting down in the cockpit, I decided to pay more attention to this problem instead of seeking out Adela.

But it wasn’t just concern for her needing to be alone that influenced my decision… no.

I stared down at my hands and I noticed they were still stained in Rehema’s blood.

_Could I have prevented this? Is this actually my fault?_

_**The next hours were wasted either checking on the status of the pursuit or debating whenever or not I was guilty of that death.** _

\---------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d------------

**AN**

**The Journey begins...**


	3. Interlude

**Interlude 1**

“Are you sure we aren’t being chased?” I asked nervously, looking at a distracted Archie as the Spirit quickly checked all of the detection systems on the starship.

“None that the devices here can spot, boss. I think we’re finally free from the pursuit.”

At least I wasn’t going to deal with any of the crazy stuff that happened just a few hours ago.

I still felt cold, dreadfully so as I walked out of the cockpit and right towards the living quarters.

My mind felt heavy as my uneasy thoughts were clogging my capacity to think straight over what I was supposed to say to… her.

I failed her. And her mother.

I didn’t need to see her now to know she hated me for what happened.

And I couldn’t fault her for it. I was the one that caused that scene. The one that got her mother killed.

I could’ve prevented it… maybe?

Perhaps.

My brain scrambled in a conflicting state of self-accusation and meek defense. I was drained, our lucky escape having taken a mental toll on my poor mind as we managed to evade the clutches of this ‘Empire’.

It reminded me too much of Star Wars… but with anthropomorphic people.

Primes. Apogeo mentioned that they weren’t more animals than Humans.

Except for the fur, and the horns… and some other key features in their appearances.

Sighing, I shook my head as I stopped in front of her room.

Adela. Was she going to attack me if I entered inside?

I gulped nervously while I knocked at her door. Two quick knocks, enough to get the sole occupant’s attention.

Silence followed as I waited for an input. Either a foul word or a reluctant permission to enter.

I was regaled with neither of those, and I frowned at the lack of a response.

“A-Adela-” I muttered, knocking again. As I was denied a reply once more, I reached for the handle and pushed it down. “I’m- I’m coming inside.”

‘ _God, that sounds so indecent!’_

I carefully opened the door, bracing myself for the worst to happen and… I was met with a sudden flash.

A bright light forced my eyes shut, my hands reaching for my face as I tried to rationalize what was going on.

A giggle filled my ears, and soon I was given back my sight as my eyes adjusted back to the normal illumination.

My stare locked onto the smiling Adela, her attention directed at the camera she was holding in her hands.

“That’s sure going to be saved up for later,” The Coyote commented with a mirthful tone, her attention turning back at me. “And sorry for the little prank. I just wanted to see how you would’ve reacted to it and… it was hilarious.”

I allowed an uneasy smile. “I-I guess.”

Blinking curiously at my reply, the young woman frowned at me. “Are you alright?”

Am I- Am I alri-

_ How could she just forget about what happened just half a day ago? How?! _

_ Her mother died. It was my fault, and here she is looking as if nothing had happened. _

“Adela-”

“Don’t give me that look,” She reprimanded sternly. “Don’t you dare give me that guilty look.”

...What?

“B-But I- I wasn’t able to-”

“To fight three Elite guards and defeat their leader? Do you really know how silly that sounds considering how untrained you are?” The girl remarked tiredly. “I think we’ve already established that it isn’t your fault that… it happened.”

She tensed up, clearly unnerved by the reminder and I took a step closer to her.

Blinking, her stare quickly returned to me and she sighed. “Do you really think I’m so fragile? You would be wrong if that’s what you think of me.”

I flinched, planning to make a few steps back at that response.

But while her words said one thing, Adela closing up the gap between us for a hug offered a different look at the situation.

My eyes were wide as she grasped me tightly, prompting my arms to wrap around her neck as tight as her own were around my waist.

“You promised me that you would never allow this to happen ever again,” The Coyote Prime reminded. “You’re my knight. You’re my protector. I… I know my mother didn’t make a mistake. I refuse to believe that.”

…

“Adela-”

“Addie,” She firmly interrupted. “I refuse to be called otherwise by my paladin.”

...

“O-Okay, Addie.”

A smile adorned her face. “See? Even though you’re a dummy about dealing with social situations, you can manage some good answers,” She admitted. “You are still upholding the promise you got from her. The one where you need to keep me safe, and to help me reclaim my birthright.”

“Addie-”

She huffed. “I think we should go train now. You might need to put on some muscles before the Empire starts to actually search for us.”

“W-Wait-”

“What?”

…

“Why are we already talking about...”

“Training?” The young Queen guessed. “Do you want ‘that’ to happen again?”

I suddenly tensed up at that rebuttal, and I shook my head on instinct.

“No!”

“Then we’re both going to train now,” She pressed on fiercely. “You did good in saving me and got us to this point, but we can’t base our survival rate on only mind tricks and luck.”

To be fair, Joseph Joestar had brawn to complement his brain. The issue was mostly his arrogance in most of his fights.

Her words were legitimately compelling, but while I was enticed by the idea of not screwing up again and maybe getting myself a bulkier body, I felt somehow reluctant as she started to explain that we needed to cut ‘shortcuts’ to avoid getting caught on unexpected predicaments.

She pulled me around the ship, ignoring my efforts to remind her that I was capable of walking on my own. The girl looked too happy to be deaf about my words, and after a while I found myself going silent.

“And then we will share a shower since… you know, saving resources.”

“ **Wait, what?!”**


	4. Break Through

**Chapter 3: Break Through**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

It was… morning. Or at least I think it is.

Archie said that it was time to wake up and make some breakfast, which I was able to complete in the span of twenty silent minutes.

Adela arrived at the kitchens with a happy grin and a relieved stance, giving me a nod and a quick greeting as she studied the delicious looking scrambled eggs.

Sitting down to join her for the first meal of the day, I felt my entire body tense up in minor frustration as I had yet to recover from the ‘training session’ I shared with the newly-made Queen.

While this wasn’t the first time I had trained with someone, I was unsure how beating me with a stick and expecting me to dodge all of her swift strikes without hesitation could be labeled as adequate training for me.

Sure, I did get more accustomed with the speed that I was supposed to get while engaging with any enemies, but I was still getting beaten with a sturdy and unforgiving stick.

It didn’t help that Adela was smiling deviously and eagerly as she kept on attacking me. And it certainly aggravated me when I realized that she was going for five laps around the inner perimeter of the gym room, then going for some basic exercise, and ultimately taking a rest.

But then the worst materialized when she genuinely got through with her ‘promise’ of sharing a shower together.

I kept on looking away, and I was pretty sure that despite her bravado, the Coyote Prime was unable to spare any looks at me. She was blushing madly when we both finished and I was glad that the shower room had some non-transparent glass to keep awkward scenes from developing in something else.

A night passed, and my bones were still aching from that unfair routine I was supposed to go through.

Lessons about Swordsmanship weren’t planned for the time being considering that my only ‘instructor’ was someone that specialized with a Bow and Arrow.

Eating my own share of the meal, I was met with a curious look from Adela. Frowning, an eased but perplexed glance caused me to question her current thoughts.

“What?” I muttered quietly, drawing a hum out of the girl as she seemed to be thinking intensely about something correlated to me.

“You know, I think you need a codename- or at least a reductive as to not complicate things during battles,” The young Queen pointed out. “Something… less cumbersome to say out loud.”

…

“How about ‘Tia’?”

I narrowed my eyes at her for saying that, feeling that it would’ve been quite embarrassing to be addressed in that ‘silly name’ during a fight.

“No.”

She pouted, possibly expecting me to just comply at her mirthful contemplation.

“How about… ‘Theo’?”

I stopped mid-munching once again, this time giving her a confused look. “Theo?”

“Yeah, I mean… It’s the masculine form of Tia, plus I don’t think it will be difficult for you to get accustomed to it.”

On one hand, I could see what she was trying to say, but then again I wasn’t much interested in this specific topic. My name, albeit difficult to pronounce correctly without people tripping on their own spelling, wasn’t that much complicated to get memorized after using it for some time.

Still, instead of rebuffing her again on this argument, I just nodded at it and accepted the suggestion.

Her smile widened, but the young woman looked hardly done with her trail of thoughts.

“Also, I wanted to ask you something about… yourself,” She started, and I knew from these first words that the topic wasn’t anything as simple as the previous one. “Of course, if you want to answer it and-”

“Just ask, Addie,” I interjected calmly.

…

She sighed. “When you first arrived, you said something to Apogeo and…” Her lips twitched in a nervous manner, and I felt a degree of uneasiness at what she was trying to bring up. “Do you… miss your parents?”

Surprise painted my face at that query. I had expected her to make that kind of correlation now that she had lost her remaining parent.

But while the expectation was there, I was now aware that I wasn’t prepared to answer that question.

Apogeo’s assurance that I would’ve been returned to the time I had left Earth was nice to hear but… I also realized that the guarantee didn’t make any sense on a logical argument.

How could I go back home at the time I had left if I had just been moved from one world to another?

Asking to Archie about his creator being able to rewind time confirmed me that the assurance wasn’t one revolving around the concept of time.

If that had been the circumstance, then the Empire would have not come around and threatened Prism to begin with.

And then I realized from a clue I was unconsciously given in that very conversation that hinted at something far more complicated than mere world-travel.

No, it had to be… a case of dimensional hopping.

As sketchy as the supposition was, Archie confirmed that it could be technically done. While Apogeo herself couldn’t afford to cast this grand ‘spell’ with ease, the same couldn’t be said about the ‘Dragon Gods’ and… those tied closely to them.

While Rehema hadn’t seen her homeworld, the knowledge that it and the culture of her now scattered race was still given to her to use at the behest of Primes.

And one of the spells in question which were gifted by these deities was one related to the summoning of a royal protector. But since Rehema had already one when she was drawing the magic, the same wasn’t for Adela.

When I asked the young Queen about the matter, she mentioned only that her mother had based the spell over some suppositions and conversations shared with Apogeo.

It was a shocking detail, but one that put me at ease over the matter of being brought back home at the precise moment I had left.

No worry, no concern from my parents.

But then again, there was the issue of dying here and being forgotten forever. And that didn’t sound like a brilliant idea to even think about.

It was incredibly unpleasant and terribly demoralizing.

Which is why instead of offering Addie’s question a lengthy explanation of my own turmoil that could easily worsen her efforts to cope with her mother’s death, I prepared to give a careful answer.

“I do,” I replied with a nod. “But I would be lying in saying that I miss them a lot.”

…

“Why? Don’t you just… Aren’t you afraid of failing and-”

“Dying?”

…

“I guess I’m afraid of that myself,” I admitted, sighing quietly as I addressed her with a serious look. “But if I allow that fear to dictate what I will be doing from now on, I can tell that I would lose any chance of coming back to them.”

The Coyote Prime gave a tiny smile at that. “You’re awfully restrained about it.”

_Did she just… notice? Just like that?_

Tensing up at that comment, I was even more surprised as the girl didn’t press more about this weak point.

I was glad she didn’t, but I still decided to switch the topic to something less troublesome to handle this early in the morning.

“So… yesterday you were saying something about… Crests.”

Her eyes widened a little at that subject, her smile widened even more.

“Oh, I don’t think I told you about them just yet,” The young woman pointed out. “At least, not why it’s important for us to find them and rally them.”

“Are these ‘Crests’ people or things?” I started to ask, finding it quite difficult to imagine people being labeled with that kind of term.

“They are Guardians of the twelve main elements,” The queen explained with a sigh. “The elements are divine attributes the Dragon Gods bestowed us with when Prism was first formed.”

I blinked at that, my brain failing to get beyond the four natural elements.

“And those are? I know Water, Air, Fire, Earth-”

“Life, Death, Courage, Wisdom, Love, Ice, Darkness, and Light,” Addie interjected and completed the list, feeling rather pleased with my questioning as none of my queries weren’t that difficult to answer for her.

“So ‘Death’ and ‘Darkness’ are regarded as good guys?” I asked back, feeling rather surprised at this revelation “Then what is the energy used by the Narakhans?”

Her happy mood waned a little bit at this unpleasant turn. “It’s… Chaos. The Crests are meant to represent the Natural Order of everything. The logical part of life.”

“While Chaos strives upon disrupting logic and Order as it relies on anarchy and lack of common sense.”

The Prime nodded at my continuation. “That’s correct, yes. Which is why the fight against the Emperor and his rule isn’t one born out from revenge. It’s a conflict meant to bring order back to the galaxy as a whole while also protecting other innocents from suffering my race’s plight.”

I stared at her for a moment, kind of impressed by the fact she sounded so genuine over her reasoning to keep on fighting. I would’ve expected revenge to be at least part of her motivations, and yet she wasn’t planning to execute any of that.

No, it was just… mesmerizing how she gave me such a determined look and- _Now she is blushing again._

“W-Why are you staring at me like that?”

I frowned, schooling my features back to a more acceptable expression.

“Like ‘what’?”

“Like a moron,” She muttered bluntly, her green-eyed sight averting for me as she replied. “Can you please not?”

…

“Does my staring trouble you, _your highness_?”

“Oh Gods- don’t you dare,” Adela remarked fiercely.

“But it would only be prim and proper for me to address you accordingly to etiquette, _your majesty_.”

“I’m warning you! Don’t go down that road or I will-”

“Or what, _milady_?”

She opened her mouth, perhaps having something already planned as a deterrent for my teasing, but this conversation was quickly cut short when red lights replaced the soothing white ones used to illuminate the room.

“ **B-Boss, Addie- I need you at the cockpit. Now!** ”

Archie’s voice sounded incredibly worried, and I felt a shiver go down my spine at the chances of facing the worst case scenario.

_We might’ve been found._

I stood up with a panicked look, forgetting what was left of my breakfast as I rushed together with the young Queen to where the cockpit was.

As the door opened to reveal what was going on inside, the first thing that appeared in front of us was the strange sight of the small spirit darting back and forth between the terminals to properly adjust the ship.

Though the main glass that showed us what was in front of the spaceship, three planets were on sight.

The troublesome bit of that beautiful space scene was the three massive battleships that were orbiting near the grand orbs.

“The Empire?” I inquired quickly, getting a nod from Archie.

“From some loose communication through their less-secure channels, they are planning for a greater blockade to enter in action soon,” The Spirit answered as he continued with his mad control over the driving system. “Which is why I don’t think I can dodge this issue on my own since avoiding it by going around the planets could result in us being detected by approaching ships.”

“These ships could easily detect and intercept us before we have a chance to get through their defensive line,” Adela commented quietly, gritting her teeth at the frustrating situation.

Despite the completion of that blockade, I could tell that as it was right now, it would just be unwise to try and make a break for it.

If we wanted to get through with this, we needed a brilliant plan to get out of this alive and…

I blinked, turning my attention back on the closest planet to our trajectory, my lips tilting in a minor scowl as I pondered about a couple of things Archie had mentioned while talking about the ship.

“Archie, forgive me if I ask again, but didn’t you say that the ship could move through landmasses?”

The spirit stopped for a moment to give a nod. “The ship was created with the pure interest of being the best mobile base, thus it was provided with a system to move through land thanks to several energy-powered wheels on each side.”

“And can you also tell me if we could land on ‘that’ planet without being noticed?”

The spirit turned away from me to stare up at what I was pointing at, his eyes narrowed over the heavenly body for a couple of silent questions.

“You want us to land there and-”

“Move to a spot where we can get around the blockade,” I finished for the Coyote Prime. “I think that’s why they are waiting for reinforcements.”

“Still, what if they can still detect us if we try to land on that planet?” The young queen pointed out, and I felt a little tense about this very matter.

What if they could? That would be dreadful for sure.

“They could… but I think I can move the ship just outside their detection system if I pick the furthest landing spot available.”

I turned to glance at Adela, knowing that this decision wasn’t mine to take. As much as I wanted to go through with this plan, she was the leader of the group, not me.

She stared back at me, a concerned glint shining from her eyes as she pondered about this very possibility.

“I can’t see any other way out of there,” The girl commented, giving part of her inner thinking process out for us to listen to. “And yet I know that we’re taking a huge risk.”

“It will only get worse if we try and wait to see if we can hide from them,” Archie added with an uneasy tone. “Even if we were to disable the ship to hide its pattern, I’m still emitting energy and they can pick my pattern.”

And that’s a detail I hadn’t been aware about. I gave a surprised look at the sheepish look on the spirit’s face, but I knew that it wasn’t his fault for being a creature born from these ‘Nanozell’ particles.

The young Queen sighed once more, her eyes now glaring at the three big ships that were blocking our retreat. Finally, she turned to Archie and nodded.

“ _**Do it.”** _

\---------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d--------

The landing procedure ended up not being the smooth process I was hoping for, but then again we weren’t trying to keep on that small opening within that continent-wide jungle for too long.

The moment the ship was stable on the surface of the planet, the wheels were deployed and Archie gave proof of being a mad driver in this kind of situation.

Maybe it was the dread created by the chances of us being found, or maybe he was naturally crazy with the need for speed.

Still, the result was that both Adela and I had decided to leave the cockpit for a while to get geared up for any possible fight.

While the spirit confirmed the lack of ships moving to intercept us, the Coyote Prime was quick enough to mention that the Empire had some cloaking device to hide away their energy patterns.

And before our already slim chances of survival, we were unwilling to be at ease in these dramatic moments.

Our nerves were also more tense at the chance of a fight breaking up one way or another. While the planet had life in it, the air there was toxic and deadly for the occupant of the vehicle.

I held my sword in its sheath, the silvery hilt held by my right hand as I tapped at its top, the quiet noise that the action created softening well enough my current worries.

The young queen was sitting on the chair beside mine, and her bow was sitting on her lap as she looked tensely through the transparent reinforced glass in front of us.

Despite our concerns over an external issue, we were given some relief as Archie brought up how the situation on land was going better than he had expected.

The ship itself wasn’t having any trouble in moving through the natural obstacles of this odd jungle, as the blue-leaved trees with red trunks and the dark-green rocks that were between us and the zone we were planning to lift off from weren’t coming close enough to even put a single indentation over the strong and resilient hull.

Still, I would be lying and say that I wasn’t feeling rather uneasy over that silence I was unconsciously part of.

My stare locked almost obsessively over the sight offered by the cockpit as I waited for something to happen. Because something had to happen, whenever it was a good thing or a bad one was all connected to the chances of us making through this undetected.

Holding my breath a couple of times as I saw a few patches created by the lack of few branches, I hoped to not see a ship or two hovering over ours. To see the effort ruined from the very beginning and our chances of escaping the blockade humiliated by that kind of scenario.

That very possibility frightened me, and thus I kept on looking up and down every single time I felt like there was a ‘strange shadow’ standing above us.

The young woman sitting behind me noticed, slowly getting the hang of what I was doing, and promptly delivering a quick elbow-hit onto my arm.

I turned to face her and she held a serious look. No words, just an indirect attempt to get my minor panic under control.

_Don’t worry. We will be fine._

I sure hoped so as I decided to put more trust into her stubborn stance before the chances of a vehicle, and I was sure that she was feeling thrice as worse as I was since this was ultimately her decision.

If we were captured or we died, it was her mostly her fault.

Thus, instead of wasting time worrying about things going wrong, I found myself staring at the ship’s pilot to see how he was faring under the duress.

Archie looked completely focused on the task. His flying frame swiftly handled the terminal without a hint of hesitation, and it was almost shocking how his current expressions looked so… blank.

To me it just looked like he was going through a flawless combo of button-pressing and valve turning, which was leaving me speechless and confused as I didn’t know much about driving a ship this big.

I still remember how troublesome it was learning how to drive a simple car, and I imagined the stress born from trying to not make any terrible mistake in the process increased by numerous times.

But from the way the ship soft-drifted just once or twice through the path to our destination without ever coming close to tip over, and hardly reaching a situation that could endanger us in any dangerous stunt, I was certain the spirit knew what he was doing with this particularly delicate job.

Once again, I was being reminded of how good this little spirit was with technology and anything related to it.

The road we were going for was mostly uneven, with various small obstacles making the ship shake from time to time along the path. Despite these tiny complications, the wheels worked masterfully through the irregular terrain and I found myself wondering how many sacrifices were made to create this vehicle.

The ship was advanced, there was no denying it, but the design didn’t feel even close to what the Empire seemed to be going for. Which prompted me to think that this was possibly an original ‘Prism-made’ vehicle.

The idea was standing on some shaky theories, but since this ship had been active for more than just a couple of decades, I could see it being a possible truth.

Two hours went by just like that, thinking about the situation through the small details available along the way, or even making some theories over Apogeo, the Empire, and how Prism was destroyed. A planet wasn’t certainly going to die without some weapons being used, and I was quite sure that neither the Empire nor Prism had any long-range weaponry installed in their battleships.

So how was it destroyed? Could it be that the Emperor was a powerful magic user?

Maybe, just maybe.

Soon this little monotonous scene was shattered when the ship started its final ‘lap’ to reach the destination.

I found myself blinking when the jungle started to disappear from our sight, and I realized that it was a clear sign that the fast-moving vehicle was arriving at the rocky zone of the planet devoid of plants and fauna.

I would’ve expected for it to take more hours, but I guess the pace was just fast enough to blitz the path in that ‘little time’.

“Come on...” I muttered under my breath, my quiet whispering getting Addie’s attention as her green eyes gave me a tense look.

Her lips parted, but words didn’t leave at first. I glanced at her as I noticed this, but she turned away as she thought about some proper words to say.

Finally, the young woman nodded and finally spoke.

“It’s working.”

Nodding slowly, I allowed the few words to sink deep in my brain before speaking back.

“Let’s not… jinx it.”

The Coyote Prime frowned at my response, but reluctantly agreed to it.

“However this goes down, we will be fine,” I decided to continue, drawing her attention once more on me. “I promise you this, Addie.”

A beautiful smile adorned her visage, but just as I finished to say these, we were finally granted some good news.

“Lift off procedure will start in five minutes,” Archie announced distractedly, his golden eyes not even turning to glance at us as he went on through the final steps of that dreadful situation.

Nodding at the development, I leaned back on my chair, planning to ease my guarded stance a little bit as I prepared for this go through without any issues.

Still, I tensed up as I felt something soft wrap around my open palm. At first I studied its warmth and its familiar form, but soon enough I turned to see what it was.

Addie squeezed her hand over mine, with her stare directed in front of her. I blinked, quite surprised by this strange action but… I squeezed back, just enough to try and show my understanding of her uneasiness. From the tiny smile appearing on her face, I was sure she appreciated the tiny amount of support in that simple gesture.

At least it was a sure thing in that predicament filled with uncertainty.

The ship started to rumble, its wheels retracting back on the proper compartments as the propellers started to heat up and push the vehicle off the ground. The stabilizers reacted just in time to avoid any accidents mid-process, and soon the ship went on through the standard liftoff procedure.

A sigh left my lips as the ship left the planet’s atmosphere and quickly flew out of the blockade as fast as it could.

“As of now, I can’t detect any ships moving to intercept us,” Archie announced with a relieved tone. “We did it, boss.”

Adela smiled, turning to glance at me with a mirthful look. “I guess I was right to trust you with this.”

Frowning, I wasn’t able to rebuke that one as I saw her hand leave mine and her finger quickly pressing on the tip of my nose.

“Sparring session, _Theo_. I need to get this nervousness out one way or another,” The young woman stated, her smile widening as I stared at her finger. “And the day is long, so expect this session to last up until lunchtime.”

Retracting her finger, she gave a quick giggle as my confusion made my face even more hilarious for her to stare at without a genuine amused reaction. Then she stood out of her chair before quietly walking out of the cockpit.

And I was left to question what had just happened with the other occupant of the cockpit.

I turned to Archie, and Archie stared at me with the same confused look I had on my face.

“What just happened?” I finally muttered and the spirit shrugged.

“I don’t know, boss.”

“Did she just… boop my nose or what?”

He grinned a little bit, but he still shrugged.

“Dunno.”

Sighing in frustration as I failed to once more read her mood, I stood out of my chair and started to make my way towards the gym room.

For some reason, I knew that while she looked this happy, the sparring was going to be fairly tough and intense from her part.

_**Hopefully, I’m not going to get beaten with that blasted stick again. ‘Training my reflexes’ my sore butt…** _

\--------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d----------

“Captain, we have their signal. From their speed, they don’t seem to have noticed our trailing just yet.”

It had been a surprise when the detection system within her smaller ship had found about the escaping remnants of Prism. The tiny group that survived the Imperial assault the day before.

Her lips arched in a devious smile as she pondered about this curious turn of events, unwilling to give the full responsibility to good luck. There was in fact a reason why she had asked to have her ship already deployed and quite close to the planet.

And that was why she had inquired about this ‘strange’ disposition.

The commander of the main ship she was assigned to, while having heard some foul rumors against her from the always infuriating General Minos, had decided against limiting her means to act against their preys.

Glory, Pride, Honor.

These were things that led her to pursuit a career in this stupid military, and the fact that she was born to be fighting against strong opponent just made this very moment her birthright all along.

Sighing happily, Captain Carmesi of the Empire mused over her current opportunity.

On the one hand, she had the means to finally clear her name for once and get a promotion out of this. The Emperor was going to reward her profusely if she managed to exterminate what’s left of the Queen’s entourage, and perhaps give her the rank of General.

That would’ve been enough to finally stabilize her reputation and hinder any chances of her irking superior from making any attempts to undermine her legitimacy as a proud warrior of the Empire.

The Fox Prime didn’t fight her way through the ranks just to be stalled by some good-for-nothing moralist. The blasted bastard was going to have a stroke when she ended up killing the Queen and what is left of Prism.

The ultimate proof of loyalty to the cause… or maybe the best way to ruin her career as a whole if she somehow failed to succeed.

The chances of her losing against any of the Queen’s guard was abysmal. Her power had increased immensely since she last fought against that infuriating Roland, and there was no way she was going to lose that brawl again.

Not with the stakes adding against her.

Another offense being reported would see her either banished or outright executed.

Both choices were unwanted by the ambitious Captain, thus she knew that she had to put herself in this gamble if she wanted to win through the adversities.

“Ma’am, should we report to General Minos our discovery or-”

“Contact Commander Murdow and say that we are going to patrol the planet,” She ordered sternly, interjecting her subordinate. “Mention just an intuition-driven checkup, nothing to be concerned about. He will articulate it so that the Bullhead will think it’s an order forced by him onto me.”

Murdow was just a fool that was easy to manipulate as he was easy to fool around with his own sense of honor. Give him a branch and he shall return with an entire tree.

Truly pathetic.

“Meanwhile we’re going to-”

“Keep on following the ship, yes,” Carmesi snapped with a hint of irritation, her light-blue eyes narrowing at the nuisance. “And I hope this will be the last of this petty suggestion game, recruit.”

“Y-Yes, Si- I mean, ma’am!” He saluted tensely as he realized his own mistake, the Narakhan quickly rushing away from being grilled any further by his superior.

Seriously, why couldn’t any of her minions be genuinely decent at their simple jobs?!

One would think that the Emperor would’ve chosen the smartest of the Narakhans to go through the simple tasks of keeping ships flying and working properly.

And yet she was stuck with a bunch of idiots that needed to have their hands held to do something at least good with their poor skills.

Truly disappointing, but she couldn’t exactly complain this to anyone without being branded a traitor.

The curse of keeping the Empire ‘strong’, without fixing the jarring issues within its military.

Another sigh left her lips, but soon her irritation melted away as she got hold over the small box holding her upgraded blades.

She opened it, smiling giddily and eagerly to test her improved daggers by drawing some blood from her enemies.

Yes, she could see it becoming a glorious bloodbath.

And her blood was already warming up at the incredible battle that one was going to be.

_**Yes, that battle was going to be memorable.** _

\--------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d----------

**AN**

**Next time, a memorable brawl indeed!**

  
  



	5. The Meaning of a Punch

**Chapter 4: The Meaning of a Punch**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

A full day managed to go by peacefully. Training was still as intense as I expected, and yet, much more balanced when compared to the first day.

The wooden swords we used were fairly sturdy and resilient, but still a far cry from the real deal.

Unlike her poor performance with her bare hands, Adela seemed to have a decent understanding of swordsmanship. Not only was her footwork more stable, but her grip over her blade costed me a few defeats during our lengthy sparring session.

I still got the best of her more times than she could over me, but the difference in combat prowess with a blade was less than I had thought it to be.

Lunch and Dinner went by smoothly and uneventfully, with Archie joining us for some conversations through the meals. Since the ship was out of harm’s way, he was allowed to stand away from the cockpit and rest away from his tasks as the ship’s pilot.

He would quip his own thoughts over the various topics brought up in each discussion, while also quietly running some quick check ups over the current status of the ship.

The fuel was going to keep the vehicle running for at least four months at our current pace, and the food stored away in special containers within the kitchen were meant to last for two more months.

Sleep came faster and surprisingly way more calmer than I had imagined. Since we all had been frightened because of the blockade, I had thought that a few nightmares would’ve come around and ruined my chances of having a good night of rest.

And yet I was blessed with a dreamless sleep session.

Morning went by calmly and devoid of surprises like the ones of the day before. But while we were away from facing a new crisis, that didn’t mean that these hours were without some curious culture shock now that Addie and I were discussing some more about Humans and Primes.

“But why so many wars?” The young queen pressed on, looking legitimately confused as to why human civilizations were known for warring with each other.

“Resources, land- greed. It’s all about getting something from an enemy,” I muttered calmly, leaning back on the couch we were sitting by. “And while there have been times where it was more of a defensive take of a conflict, we still demanded something from the losing side.”

The Coyote Prime had a tiny book she had planned to read during this little break from training, but she had delayed that situation just to learn more about me. In return, I was asking more about Prism and… I too was confused over some topics that just didn’t make any sense to me.

Like if Gods exist, then why did they favor one race over the others?

Sure, we humans weren’t shy from painting ourselves as paragons of morality and civilization with movies and books, but I can easily say that the Primes didn’t seem to have a particular reason to be favored.

In fact, the more I studied the matter, the more I realized that the reason why no war had ever come to be in Prism was because the deities were constantly intervening and preventing large fights.

Competitions to test warriors’ potential were well accepted in fancy tournaments, but nothing was waged out of self-interest and against the greater good of Prism’s civilization.

The only two instances that brought an end to this very peace were all related to the Empire.

The first one was when the Narakhans ‘came to be’. Adela didn’t know where they came from exactly or why they showed instantaneous dislike for Prism, but the Gods themselves saw it fit to curse their entire race to live within chaos, for chaos, and under chaos.

Then the Emperor, a powerful being able to muster masterfully chaos as an element, waged a war against Prism and the Gods.

Like the former episode, the deities tried to fix this issue with a punitive strike… only to discover that their powers meant nothing against this new threat.

And things took a turn for the worse when one of the Dragon Gods was killed during that confrontation, especially with the rest of the divine beings running away from the ‘God-Slayer’ and left Prism alone to face the full brunt of the invasion.

The Narakhans were coordinated and their attacks easily broke through the first brave lines of defense.

The battle for Prism lasted for five days, only for more than half the population to be forced to evacuate the planet.

Deeming it right to show his might once again, the Emperor did something that nobody had expected a foe to be able to accomplish.

Prism was destroyed by a single being, and those who survived were either killed, captured and turned to the empire cause, or even sent to remote planets in exile.

The largest group of Prime that lived after Prism’s destruction served and fought under the Royal Family.

Centuries easily dented over the manpower until the day I was summoned.

Now… it was only the two of us against a tyrannical government trying to exterminate any trace of resistance to its iron rule.

The thought had failed to settle only until I pondered over the Primes’ background, and while I was tempted to consider a cautious and lengthy approach to try and find the Crests, I knew that every passing moment would see the Empire growing stronger and more prominent in the galaxy.

We had to be bold with our moves for the sake of not dying.

“But why won’t you just… agree to share the resources?” Adela looked incredibly unconvinced of my explanation, and I couldn’t blame her for that.

The mere concept of a race that would be so fragmented and divided had to sound jarring compared to the state Prism was before its destruction.

The young woman mentioned that there was just a single government ruling the entire planet, which was surprising for me considering how easy it was for people to distrust each other.

But then again, there were factors that would make that situation possible.

The Gods themselves were a major contribution in keeping a single culture, a single ‘religion’, and a single language.

It was still a surprise, but I merely accepted it as a lucky beginning influencing the history of an entire planet to the best of futures…

Except the incapacity to fight in space.

Since starships lacked energy cannons, it would be impossible to make any genuine space warfare doable without hoping to intercept and board individual ships one at the time.

It was a disadvantage for Prism but also for the Empire.

Since the main purpose of the Emperor’s military was to invade a planet that didn’t have any orbital defense, it just didn’t seem ‘important’ enough to create weapons capable of shooting down ships from a safe distance.

“Because the easy way is ignored for the bountiful one,” I remarked calmly. “And before you ask, war isn’t my expertise. I was a student when I left.”

Addie nodded, her green eyes moving away from me for a moment as she seemed to be thinking about something else.

“A student is… someone that learns things at... school?”

Blinking, I felt surprised at receiving such a simple question. Part of me just wanted to rebuke with a simple ‘of course’, but then I remembered that Adela didn’t have the same upbringing as mine.

Always on the run, the only knowledge she had was from her mother and the few tutors she managed to study under.

“Yes,” I replied, hoping for my tenseness to not appear within my words.

“Can you tell me more about it?” She inquired with some curiosity.

I nodded, “Sure.”

I tried to keep my explanation to just the years before Uni. I knew that going through that would only get some headaches from the two of us.

This topic was the last one we discussed, with it taking the remaining time of the pause before we had to return to the gym room to resume our training.

Addie was waiting by the doorstep of the kitchen as I went to retrieve some water battles as the ones we had been using until now were close to being completely empty of water.

Humming quietly as I looked inside the fridge, I calmly took out two cool bottles out of it and… then paused when I noticed that there was something off with the current situation.

I tensed up out of instinct, my eyes narrowing as I looked around to understand what got me this nervous all so suddenly and then I ended up staring at the tiny window that gave sight over the ship’s right side.

At first I thought that the blackness of space was going to greet me, and yet I saw another color in its stead.

It was a dark-red, and some orange details over the surface of what looked to be-

“Archie,” I called with a loud tone, knowing that the spirit had access to the cameras within the ship and could hear us from anywhere within it.

“ ** Yes, boss? ** ”  The pilot replied through the communication system within the cameras.

“ Can you access the external cameras and tell me why there is a  _ fucking ship trying to board us?! _ ”

My nervousness flared in a moment of angry panic and I heard Archie scrambling around to check on what I just told him.

There was silence for some time and I kept on staring at the small tube extending from the ship onto ours, ignoring as Addie decided to approach and check this with her own eyes.

“They actually found us?”

“ ** Y-Yes, it’s the Empire. ** ”

Paling a little bit, my brain tried to grasp over the fact that we had been caught without us even noticing about it.

Sure, I knew the Empire’s ships had a cloaking device that was able to hide their energy patterns, but it shouldn’t be able to trick a detection system by being this close to it.

And yet they did and… then I noticed another detail that I found the most confusing of this scene.

“It’s only this ship...”

I couldn’t see any other vehicles surrounding us, and while I was aware of the chances of others being cloaked, I couldn’t help but realize that they would’ve deactivated their cloak now that the boarding operation was now happening.

“It wouldn’t be the first time some grunts would try and get all the glory,” The young queen added dryly. “A few died because of it, but then there was this one that was obsessed in fighting mother’s guard.”

I blinked. “You mean… the one that tried to kill you both?”

Adela looked tense already, a mix of the reminiscence about that recent bad memory and the fact we had to deal with this new problem, but she still managed to offer a quick nod.

…

_ Wait, does the Empire know that Queen Rehema is now dead? _

I had forgotten to take under consideration the fact that the assault force that was sent to destroy her entourage didn’t have any survivor out of that large explosion.

And since the ship that was once used by the group led by her was now flying in proper conditions, maybe they thought both the former ruler and her guard were still alive.

“Archie, can you try to shake them off by-”

“ ** To the current occupants of the ship, this is Captain Carmesi of the Empire. Your ship is now being towed, and attempts to try to escape shall be met with extreme prejudice, ** ”  A woman interrupted loudly with this announcement. “ ** I shall expect to find the leader of this rabble and her guard to come by the storage bay of the ship in two minutes from now. If the request is ignored, then I shall directly order the ship’s destruction. ** ”

A few quiet moments passed once the announcement was over. Then I stared at Adela with a confused look.

“Why would she-”

“It’s the one that was obsessed with mother’s knight,” The young queen answered curtly, and I got most of my confusion solved with those few words. “Still, I think we should make a detour.”

I frowned at her as she started to walk towards the doorstep, stopping just for a moment to grace me with a determined look.

“The Armory is before the Storage Bay. I guess we need to _dress accordingly_ to greet our foes,” The Coyote Prime added, her smile widening. “I hope you're planning something once we get rid of them.”

The degree of trust and certainty her words were dripping me was enough to make me smile back… but also worry about the true extent of our current circumstance.

While it was good to keep up an optimistic look over the situation, I was more of a realist when tackling a problem.

_** And I was really hoping things were as easy as they looked like. ** _

\-----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-----------

Gearing up for the approaching brawl, we were both greeted with a slow clapping coming from atop one of the various boxes within the storage bay.

I looked up at the origin of the sound, narrowing my eyes at who I presumed to be the leader of the enemy ship.

Light-blue eyes bore on us with a curious and mirthful glint. Her hair was mostly brown, with several of her frontal bangs a bright blonde.

The Fox Prime looked incredibly slender, and her armor fitted over her slim body almost flawlessly.

But as I studied her armor… I couldn’t help but frown at how skimpy it looked.

Not that it was showing any of her modesty, but… I could see a glaring weakness on it.

“ Finally, I was starting to think I was being ignored,” The woman muttered, a tiny smirk on her face as she jumped off the crate she had been sitting on for the whole time. “And…  _ what are you? _ ”

She pointed at me with a confused look, and I frowned.

“I’m a human, and my name is-”

“Theo,” Addie interjected much to my sudden annoyance.

The Fox Prime blinked in confusion at this, her arms crossing under her bust.

“A human? I hope you understand that you were just pulled within this conflict without even realizing that you’re fighting for the losing side,” The captain remarked. “Still, I suppose the queen is going to join us soon.”

...

“The queen is already there,” Adela replied dryly, drawing the captain’s attention on her.

Carmesi blinked, perplexed by the choice of words… but then she snorted.

“Funny joke aside, _princess_ , where is your mother and that bastard that is-”

“Roland?” I interrupted calmly. “He died after mortally wounding Queen Rehema. He was corrupted with the Taint.”

If there had been any hints of disbelief about Adela’s claim within the Fox Prime’s face, now that I had given more details over the matter I could see her resolve wavering.

“A ruse to get me to not fight? I will still destroy the ship if I’m not granted what I ask, so it’s futile that you delay the inevitable,” The Captain retorted sternly.

“Tough luck, lady. We told the truth,” I shot back fiercely. “Plus, don’t you think it odd that there isn’t more of us coming here to beat you back?”

“Once again, it could all be a trick-”

“To what end?” The Coyote Prime interrupted with a frustrated tone. “Why would we need to delay this situation? Why not defeat you here and now?”

Carmesi was taken aback by that rebuttal, but as she prepared to reply to that she stopped before she could say anything about it.

Her mouth opened and closed, offering no logical response to that, but then she snarled in irritation at this predicament.

“So this is it? He just died like… that?!”

“Pretty much,” I replied without thinking. “I mean, I did use some explosives but-”

“ _ You what! _ ”

_ Maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud. _

“Nothing,” I tried to defuse the ticking bomb I just enabled, but I soon discovered that it was already too late for that.

“You were the one that killed Roland? You?” Carmesi’s lips twitched in clear amusement and disbelief. “Don’t try to make me laugh. You, a ‘human’, is behind the death of one of the strongest enemies of the Empire.”

Now that she puts it like this… I actually didn’t pay much attention to the whole power scale thing. I mean, I just tricked the guy into triggering some explosives that obliterated him.

Not much of a ‘fair fight’ to begin with.

“He did,” Adela vouched calmly.

The captain’s amusement vanished in a single blink, and a scowl replaced her amused twitching lips.

“If so, then how about you prove your words by the way of the blade?” Carmesi asked fiercely, deploying what at first looked to be two daggers… only for the two weapons to extend into curved swords.

“ I don’t need to prove anything,” I remarked sternly, unsheathing my sword and preparing for the fight. “But I agree. I will show you that you’re not going to win this battle,  _ Captain _ .”

The Fox Prime chuckled. “Truly? Then come forth!”

I complied instantly, rushing towards my single enemy, only to be met mid-way by her. A grin was there on her visage, an attempt to reply at my uneasiness as I was quick to pick up that my opponent was a speedster.

Our blades clashed in a mighty match, sparks exploding from that single contact as the young woman tried to push me away and gain an opening through that victory. Yet I proved her plan futile as I shoved her back, getting just a cut on her cheek as I pushed my sword forward towards her face much to her surprise.

While Carmesi was faster than I was, I was slightly stronger than her.

The fight was still in its early stage, but I wasn’t willing to let my enemy recover and get her mind out of her arrogant self. She still couldn’t believe I killed the one that had been winning against her for a while now.

I wasn’t sure how much time of her life that took out of her, but I was also sure that she wasn’t planning to let go of that without killing the one that deprived her of that chance.

Still, the Fox Prime had yet to accept me as a worthy opponent and she was holding back a lot because of it.

At this point, I really needed to capitalize on giving damage now that I knew I could deal some.

Despite the first injury, Carmesi pressed on with the assault and tried to unbalance my footing and disarm me by striking me relentlessly with both her short swords.

My tight hold over my blade seemed to resist well enough for me to break the stalemate with a quick kick on her ribs.

She yelped in surprise, backing away for a moment to reassess her situation.

“So you know how to fight?”

I didn’t reply at that bait, but I still advanced on her defensive stance. This proved to be a mistake as soon I found myself deprived of a stable footing. Her right leg came in to sweep at my own without notice, and I tripped forward because of it.

Rolling away, the Fox Prime merely stood over me and gloated even more.

“Truly a shameful display.”

I gritted my teeth, picking up the sword and standing up to face her again.

_ I will give you ‘shameful’. _

Another clash ensued as I got close enough, but instead of me merely pushing her back, I moved my left arm away from holding the hilt and cocked it in a fist.

Carmesi recoiled in surprise as a punch slammed on her cheek, creating a good distraction to push her aside and stab again towards the best opening available in her stance.

Pain flashed in her blue eyes as I managed to leave a large cut on her shoulder, but not enough to dissuade her from the close encounter.

“ _ Fair enough! _ ”  She exclaimed fiercely. “I guess I should take you more seriously.”

Those words weren’t the ones I needed to hear now that I was making good progress.

As I had expected, her pace increased even more, and the speed of her attacks started to genuinely pose a problem for my stance as I was swiftly put on the defensive.

“What’s wrong now?” The woman asked giddily. “Having some issues with the heat?”

I huffed, shoving some of her strikes as quickly as I could, surprisingly enough managing to stave off almost everything. Some of her hits still managed to leave cuts all over my jacket.

“You really like the sound of your voice… don’t you?” I shot back, only to get rebuked with an unpleasant development.

My first injury was when her left blade took a sudden swing at my right knee, cutting just above the midpoint and sending some blood flying.

“Maybe I do,” Carmesi confirmed dryly. “But you seem to crave punishment.”

Shaking my head as I tried to keep a solid stance despite my noticeable wound, I studied what I could do to subvert her advantage.

I had some explosives but… I wasn’t sure how I could use those to beat her without damaging any of the boxes around us. The resources there were essential, and I had to do some damage control for what happens after this fight.

_** If there is an ‘after’ to it. ** _

“Why?”

The Fox Prime blinked as she blocked the first strike of my desperate offensive. “Hmm?”

“Why did you want to beat Roland?”

Instead of just focusing on the fight, my enemy grinned.

“Because he beat me.”

“And you wanted to… beat him back?”

“Yeah,” She replied quickly. “And what are you trying to get out of these questions?”

“That’s simple,” I said, backing away as she slammed my sword off with the clash. “I don’t think you’re doing this out of duty, but out of personal gains.”

A snort left Carmesi’s lips. “And what if I am?”

“Then you’re gambling for the worst side.”

Her eyes narrowed on me, but I still continued to speak.

“The best you can get out of this is a promotion. But gratification? You’re in easy mode by playing on the side that is already winning,” I pointed out. “And I can tell from the way you fight and speak that this isn’t what you want.”

“And you think you know ‘what I want’?” She demanded, her tone hinting at some interest about what I was saying. “Then let me ask, what do I get out of betraying the _just cause of the Emperor_?”

“You wouldn’t be limited by any restrictions a military would impose to its soldiers. You would be a warrior, capable of making your own decisions. You wouldn’t be punished to death if you think differently from us.”

“And?”

I frowned. “And we have a Gym Room?”

…

“ Hehe,” She shook her head, her stance easing up as she addressed the matter with proper attention. “You-  _ you, a weak fool, is trying to convince  _ _** me  ** _ _ to switch sides!? _ ”

I tensed up at her giddy look and then… she sighed.

“I will give you one chance, just because I’m now interested to see how far you would go with your word,” Carmesi proclaimed with a serious tone. “I know you’re holding back just like I am, and today I wanted to fight a memorable battle.”

She shrugged. “We stop holding back, and I will consider joining if you win.”

Holding back? She wasn’t at her maximum just yet?

That was news I really was having trouble digesting, but I was also confused by something else.

_ I’m holding... back? I’m putting everything in this fight, and I’m quite sure there is nothing I can pull within myself. _

Despite this dreadful circumstance, I knew that I couldn’t just back away from the challenge.

Adela was giving me a tense look, her hold over her bow tightening as she seemed prepared to intervene in case things went wrong with my attempt.

But… I wasn’t going to lose. Not now!

“Fine! Let’s see what you’re holding back then, Carmesi!”

Her grin widened, and instead of resuming the brawl at once, the young woman took her time to do  _ something _ .

A frown adorned my face as I saw something strange happen around her, and with myself.

The temperature of the room seemed to increase, and my throat tightened as my nostrils caught the familiar scent of… smoke.

Tiny drop-like flames started to appear around her form, her blades suddenly glowing a bright red.

“ I hope you’re ready… because I will  ** burn you up! ** ”

She bolted, her speed reaching an insane level as I saw her smile already over me as her swords, currently lifted up and poised to strike, descended towards me.

Bringing the sword up just in time, I managed to clash against the stronger push coming from the Fox Prime. I could feel the heat, with my hands becoming sweatier at the unexpected development.

I couldn’t still wrap my head around it, and yet it would make sense for someone as hot headed as Carmesi to be given the rank of Captain despite the fact she still looked as old as Addie and I were.

The magical fire, the incredible strength behind her attacks-

Carmesi was the Crest of Fire.

_ Crap. _

“Again? Why the gawking? Something caught you off-guard.”

“Yes,” I blurted nervously. “You… You really aren’t holding back.”

She actually giggled. “Damn right, little human!”

Against all the odds stacked against me, I managed to grin myself at her eagerness.

“Then I shall provide my best.”

A snort left her lips. “You better.”

I pushed myself to my very limits just to match up her hits with mine. The sparks born from these quick-paced clashes were far more intense and fiery compared to before and I could feel my hold over the sword slipping the more I kept this close to the heat.

But then I started to feel… better. Something burned from within my chest and I felt my tiredness vanish without notice as I started to hit faster and stronger.

Carmesi realized that something had changed in my pattern instantly, and her stare grew predatorial over the chances of this being what she was searching for.

“Finally.”

I frowned as I saw my sword and arms glowing- actually, my entire body was. It was a suave glow, so soft that I barely noticed at first glance.

I could tell that this was some magical boost but… was it the sword? It has to be.

But why now and… why was it helping me despite me killing its former owner?

Ultimately I decided to ignore this situation and press on this new advantage.

The Fox Prime backed away from a moment as she conjured a fireball on her palm, the attack rushed at me instantly and I barely dodged it. Another one was thrown, but instead of letting her target me like this, I rushed forward to resume the melee.

Her swords moved just in time to intercept my blade, but the surprise at the sudden increase of pace seemed to work well as a distraction to get her hold over her weapons less than it was a while ago.

I swung the sword upward, and her short blades were yanked off her hands.

We stopped for a moment, her wide-eyed look turning at her empty palms and then at me.

Surprise was mixed with something else. It was an expectation. Directed at me.

For a moment I was confused as to what she would want from me but… then I realized what she was indirectly asking.

Dropping the sword, I tightened my fists in preparation and Carmesi’s grin returned stronger than before as she took a stance herself.

We rushed back into the close fight, my jab reaching her nose, while hers slammed up to my chin.

The exchange was quite intense, and I could feel bruises forming with each attack we shared. She was vehement, but I wasn’t joking around with my own hits.

One thing was certain despite the frenetic pattern of this true brawl. Neither of us was trying to kill the other.

Gone was the fire and so my body felt fatigued once again. The punches and the kicks only worsened that state of tiredness we were both suffering through to the point where we had to stop and merely stare.

Barely standing up, still smiling as this felt to be the most honest display of opinions clashing with one another… the Fox Prime shook her head.

“For a time… For a time I thought this to be just a dream,” The girl muttered calmly. “To fight, to laugh and… to be there to do this with others.”

“You sound… like you wanted a friend.”

The young woman snorted. “As- As if.”

I managed a weak shrug, turning my attention elsewhere.

“So… are you joining us?”

…

“Only… only if I can punch you in the face-”

“And I punch yours.”

We shared a laugh, but that was the last thing we did before our tired bodies were left spent and unable to stand up. We fell down, slamming one close to the other and the last thing I saw was Adela rushing towards us.

_** Who would’ve thought that making friends by fighting was this easy... ** _

\---------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d--------

** AN **

** A new crew member? Although she is a fiery spirit, she is also someone complicated and important! Who knows what happens next? **


	6. Pride and Truth

**Chapter 5: Pride and Truth**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

When my body started to wake up, the first thing that hit my brain was the unpleasant soreness well-spread all over my entire self.

I wasn’t hurting too badly, but the minuscule degree of pain was enough to keep me from remembering things as fast as I normally wanted.

Why was everything hurting like hell?

I remembered some punches, several kicks, a troublesome headbutt, and a final smile before I collapsed.

My memories started to flesh out the more I calmly contemplated what got me in this circumstance.

I could remember some blurry scenes during that draining fight, then me trying my best to win over my opponent to my cause, and ultimately managing to do so while getting beaten up in the process.

To be fair, I wasn’t the one that lost that fight.

I refused to address that battle as such, as I was quite sure it was a proper draw. We both fell unconscious, and we both were deemed unable to keep on fighting.

But while I was half-expecting for my former opponent to rebuke this affirmation, I knew that my current concern had to be directed elsewhere.

Specifically, where was I at the moment.

Blinking slowly, my sight was greeted by the bright light coming from the ceiling. The bed was comfy, and the pillows beneath my head were quite soft… but both were unfamiliar to me as I slowly realized that this wasn’t my room.

I blinked once again, this time trying to adapt my eyes to the light washing over me and… I was ultimately granted sight over the medical bay.

And I wasn’t the only one there.

I took notice of Addie almost instantly, but while I was tempted to smile and give a quick ‘good morning’ despite not knowing what time it was, I stopped as soon as I realized that she wasn’t too happy right now.

The young woman was watching over me as she continued to sit on a chair close to my bed.

Her green eyes bore over me, a mix of relief and irritation within her orbs creating an odd combo that got me incredibly nervous.

It didn’t help that she was holding a baton in her hands as she seemed to be waiting for something. And I was quite sure that one of the possible routes for this unexpected predicament was a furious assault towards me.

“Addie-”

“You’re an utter moron,” The young Queen pointed out dryly, her irritation clear in her voice. “And I’m currently debating if I should greet you with a beating or not.”

I tensed up at the sudden threat of violence, my eyes widening in surprise at that ‘good morning’. I guess I did something to warrant this much hostility.

She might get hot headed from time to time, but this was perhaps at first at this degree of annoyance from her part.

“What?”

She sighed, almost incensed by my lack of recollection of anything that could’ve led to this very strange conversation.

“Do you recall what happened a few hours ago?”

The question got me to blink twice before I found enough bravery to see what got her this much aggravated.

“Yes?”

“Then please, explain to me why you thought that recruiting someone clearly stronger than you in the middle of a fight against them isn’t something I shouldn’t label as the most stupid and inane thing you could’ve tried to accomplish?”

…

She had a point there, and I kept quiet for some time. I would’ve spent more of that silence to try and come up with a decent explanation, but the way her hold was tightening over the baton convinced me to start talking.

Anything at this point was good if it meant not getting assaulted. My body couldn’t allow it, and so wouldn’t the little pride I had in being a good diplomat.

“Can I say that the heat of the moment, and the fact I was losing that fight saw me push for that move?”

My attempt seemed to work despite my own uncertainty over the chances of failing with that weak response. Addie’s posture eased up at the semi-query, but her eyes were still narrowed at me with the utmost irritated look.

“Oh, but I can understand that,” The Coyote Prime said while nodding, genuinely agreeing to this counter. “I know that you did something incredible by bringing the Crest of Fire to our camp, and while I know that it will take us time to conquer her loyalty, I’m quite optimistic about it.”

There was a brief pause, and I continued to silently stare at her as I knew that this wasn’t exactly the main bit of the issue.

“But what I really find it bewildering is that even though you managed to beat her by using Light Magic, you still found it important enough to abandon yourself in a bare-handed brawl as if you were a mindless idiot that just craved for the battle,” The young woman continued, her tone turning stern once again. “And the thing that truly appalls me is that I know this wasn’t something normal from you and… I might know why you indulged in that melee.”

Frowning, I tilted my head to the side at the last bit.

“What?”

I was surprised that she thought that my decision was dictated by something other than my brain. I wasn’t generally the one that let go of any inhibition to just join a bare-handed close-encounter fight.

“I was surprised when you first used Light Magic to boost yourself,” The Coyote Prime started to say. “Sure, it was mostly done to lessen the stress you were perceiving, but from what I remember from previous conversations had on the matter, you told me that humans can’t use magic.”

“I’m fairly sure no human can make use of magic back home,” I agreed calmly. “Actually how did I do that if-”

“Archie checked on any abnormality that could explain this, and he mentioned that you had a full-developed core with a decent affinity with all elements of order,” Addie explained. “Looking at this matter even more, I came to the conclusion that your body was affected by the spell that summoned you. Something that cemented your role as my knight.”

That did answer some of the questions I had over the strange topic. So it wasn’t the sword that gave me this advantage, but the spell that brought me here altered my body to properly accommodate magic.

…

“But how did I make use of Light Magic?” I inquired. “I mean, I’ve never seen it used before and-”

“I think I am to fault about it,” The Queen interjected with a minor hint of nervousness. “It’s… do you remember when I held your hand during the blockade, back when we were sitting by the cockpit?”

“I can’t exactly forget that now, can I?” I replied sarcastically, getting a tiny snort and a soft punch on the shoulder. “But how does hand-holding make you responsible for this development?”

…

“I can use Light Magic,” The girl answered with a nod, her palms releasing the baton and arching in front of her as a small white sphere formed between her hands. “I don’t know much about it, especially with no one but mother being able to teach me about it. So… yeah, I tried to use my magic to… calm you a little bit.”

Light Magic can do that? Calm people?

I was a little confused how the elements genuinely worked. Sure, I wasn’t expecting for Light to just be able to produce annoying and harmless beams of light that could work only on creatures of darkness, but I really was curious to learn its limitations and best uses.

It was an advantage, and considering how tough fights were going to be from now on, I knew I had to exploit all chances I got to become strong enough to stave off any attack on us.

Now that Carmesi was on our team, I knew that our chances of success had increased immensely and-

“Wait, how does this correlate to how I behaved at the end of that fight?”

Green eyes blinked in realization that we had indeed wasted too much time in that digression, and she nodded as she prepared to explain.

“Just like you managed to gain an ‘understanding’ of Light Magic, you ended up undergoing a similar phenomenon with Fire Magic while fighting Carmesi,” Addie replied with a sigh. “Some elements can end up influencing the user’s emotional state, and Fire is known to bring out passion and desire. In this case, it was the need to keep on fighting until you both were unable to continue.”

Is this true? Then I will have to pay close attention when I start training with it and other elements that condition my mood in any sort of way.

But the explanation given finally opened up a whole world. I wasn’t sure how to digest this new piece of information just yet.

So, instead of pondering further now that my mind wasn’t quite capable of formulating complicated thoughts, I decided to switch the topic to another query of mine I wanted to really ask.

“This is… something I will have to think more about later on. I guess we can train on that once my body has properly recovered,” I said, waiting for her to nod in agreement before continuing. “Still, I don’t see our newest crew member in here. I guess she’s already up.”

The mere mention of the Fox Prime got a frown out of Adela. The Coyote Prime gritted her teeth in a minor grimace and then sighed in clear frustration.

“She is currently adjusting her own room,” The Queen answered quietly. “Let’s just say that she was ‘impressed’ by how big it was, but lamented the fact it lacked training gear.”

“I guess she is taking some from the Gym Room.”

I could see someone like the Fox Prime going through that… but then again I was still unsure of the kind of individual we just recruited.

Driven by pride and her interest in fighting the strongest possible while also improving herself, Carmesi was still an enigma that I had just started to unravel thanks to that strange ‘bonding’ session.

I wasn’t sure how realistically speaking a brawl of that magnitude could genuinely create a friendship out of hostilities.

The girl nodded. “She paused for a while when we entered inside. She didn’t say much about it, but I can tell she was enjoying the idea that she had access to this facility… I think mother once said that the Empire doesn’t invest much in training rooms.”

I noticed a little flinch as she brought up her deceased parent and I sighed.

“Addie-”

“I know, I still can’t… get control over that, but I’m working on it and-”

She paused as I pressed my finger on her nose.

“You don’t have to justify yourself about it. Not to me,” I rebuked softly, my finger moving as my whole hand cupped her cheek. “If you need to talk to it… do ask.”

The young woman nodded, and with a smile on my face, I retreated my hand before I opened my arms to her. Her eyes widened for a brief moment of pure stillness, but she happily accepted the offer and dived for a hug.

Addie was careful enough to not press herself too much on my still-tired body, but her arms squeezed tight and close and so did mine.

She hummed with a pleased tune, while I merely sighed as I enjoyed the relative warmth and comfort coming from that good embrace.

I was so distracted that I barely noticed that someone was hovering above us. A giggle made me frown as I slowly looked up and… was greeted with a smiling Archie.

“Hello boss!”

I almost jumped, making the Coyote Prime tense up in my hold before she noticed what had frightened me so suddenly. Her tiny smile widened, and her lips twitched before she pressed her face on my chest and started to laugh.

“I guess the ship has been landed at the planet I’ve chosen,” Adela muttered, getting a nod from the Nanozell spirit before the little guy settled on my lap.

“We’ve stopped?”

“Just to wait for you to recover and… help me elaborate on some proper plans,” The young woman explained. “Archie here managed to download the maps within Carmesi’s old ship before we left them.”

I frowned. “Couldn’t they just chase us and-”

“They tried to board us, some of them at least,” Archie interjected before nodding. “I started the engines and sent an electric pulse into their ship. That disabled most of their secondary systems like their boarding gears, their detection system, and their propellers were temporarily disabled too.”

“That sounds like a lot of work. I don’t think we ever got the chance to say that you did a brilliant job as the pilot,” I praised with a nod, the spirit looking fairly sheepish and unsure how to pick the compliment.

“It’s alright, boss. I’m just doing my job-”

“And you’re doing it excellently,” Adela decided to add with a tiny giggle, her hand reaching for his head and giving it a pat. “You shouldn’t be afraid to accept due praise for your work.”

The usually white face of the spirit turned a bright red at the mirthfully embarrassing situation.

All in all, this turned out to be quite the interesting wake up for me.

_**But still, the night was long and someone was feeling rather restless.** _

\-------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-------

I gulped nervously as I tried to go beyond fifty push-ups. The exercise was usually ‘easier’ for me to go through in a normal situation, but with my body still recovering from that all-out brawl, I couldn’t exactly go through with yesterday’s schedule.

Which is why Adela saw it fit to lessen up the amount of exercises I was allowed to go for today. I needed to train, but I didn’t need to over-exert myself about it.

Time was still on our side and now we had a clear sight over our mission.

With Carmesi joining us, we had one of the twelve Crests away from the Empire’s clutches… but the data acquired by Archie left a jarring discovery about the matter.

Excluding the Fox Prime from the count, there were two more Crests that were under the control of the Emperor.

The first one was someone that our newest crew member knew and despised.

General Minos was one of the most devoted and loyal officers of the Empire. He was regarded as a model to follow by those Primes that submitted and joined the Emperor’s cause, and not just because of his grandstanding.

He was the Crest of Earth, having been educated and trained ever since its homeland’s destruction by the Emperor himself.

At first it was a shocking surprise to digest, but Adela did confirm that Crests didn’t have an expiration date.

They were immortals, but not invincible.

They could die in battle, but they were untouched by sickness and mortality.

Minos was centuries old, his mind deeply entrenched in the ideals of the Empire and what his liege’s strives for and… that made him someone I really didn’t wish to approach.

Strong, well-guarded, and he was too deep within the Empire to ever consider betraying their banner.

That and Carmesi had mentioned more than once a deep hatred for the ‘prim and proper jerk’, with the guy having been responsible for many issues to the Fox Prime’s ascension to the Empire’s ranks.

When she accepted my proposal of switching over, her reasoning wasn’t just tied to the unpleasant condition she was forced to live by each day because it was standard for the Empire’s grunts.

Despite her attempts to limit her pride in messing things up for her, this General seemed to not be in the mood to grant any reprieve after a ‘bad first impression’. That very sentence stuck out, but I didn’t press her for more as she continued to explain what she knew of the dangerous enemy and… about our second option.

Nobody that was less than a Lieutenant-General knew of the identity of the second Crest.

Rumors were still something that ran rampant about the identity and the element they were assigned to, but none among the various ‘nosy’ officers that tried to dig deep to find some clues about the situation had ever managed to unravel even one of the two questions.

Despite that lack of info over the Crest in question, some of the trails had left many to suspect that whoever was the individual, they had to have a part in the chemical that was used to torture prisoners.

While the Empire had a strict jail system that allowed just a handful of people to ‘mercifully continue to live in prisons’, the worst part of that predicament was the way those that opposed the Empire’s agenda were tortured and forced to confess to their crimes.

And even though I expected for the torture to be mostly physical and painful, the truth proved to be far more confusing and suspicious.

The ‘Agápi’ was considered one of the most effective and most feared compounds ever used by the Empire.

It was capable of eroding a prisoner’s resistance to questions in a couple of minutes, and allowing specialized interrogators to get quick answers out of the subject before the effects of the chemical run out.

A truth serum that was as effective as harmless to be used frequently or in large quantities to increase the timing of the effects.

I could only shudder at the possibility of being subjected to that kind of substance, having no intentions to be ever captured by the Empire now more than ever.

Still, this curious chemical was also the center of numerous queries from various members of the military.

Where did it come from? How did the scientist manufacture it so that it could be used so easily and in large quantities?

But it was Carmesi that brought out a supposition that was seen by many as the possible truth.

The second Crest was one way or another involved with the ‘Agápi’ serum, and that meant that if we found the principal development workplace that was tasked with its production, we were possibly going to find where the elusive Crest was.

For now the options were too many to be considered, and a proper brainstorming session was set to happen just the morning of the next day, when we were all rested and ready to dig as deeply as we could about the topic thanks to the stolen database Archie got for us.

Which is why, much to Carmesi’s growing amusement, I decided to keep my mind clear by trying my best by training together with the girls.

The Fox Prime seemed to have just finished with her schedule, and she looked particularly tired while she stared at me groaning and huffing through the strenuous training.

“What’s wrong? Having some trouble with some ‘push-ups’?”

I gritted my teeth at the gloating. Now I remember why I couldn’t help but call her names in my mind.

Despite the craving to rebuke her smugness, I knew that antagonizing her would give me nothing more than just troubles with Carmesi.

So I kept quiet, and I went on through my session without paying much attention at the annoying comments coming from my left.

_Slow and steady wins the race… but damn, I’m regretting the fact I did ask Addie to give me something to do._

Speaking of the Queen, the Coyote Prime was focusing intensely on her own training. Ever since I pointed out to her that she needed to improve her bare-handed performance.

Sternly and mostly determined, there was indeed some initial step to the right direction. Improvement was far from being attained, but I knew that Adela had it in her to actually get through this very issue.

But while I found reason to push further by staring at the young woman’s drive with her own training, I ended up noticing that I wasn’t the only one that took notice of this situation.

Light-blue eyes stared silently at the fierce stubbornness displayed by the young woman, eliciting a degree of interest and desire from within the Fox Prime. A desire to challenge and beat this ‘temporary rival’ by doing more and better than she was.

Petty rivalry was mostly left to children, but I knew of people that just couldn’t let go of this notion. Carmesi would soon prove to me that she was part of the latter group as she started to copy the same exercises Adela was going through.

At first I didn’t give it much attention. It was still positive training, and nobody was insulting or hurting anyone.

Minutes passed smoothly and uneventfully, and I happily sat down as I finished with my workload for today. But while I stopped to look at the ceiling for a moment, allowing for my body to get accustomed back to the calm situation, I slowly lowered my gaze back to Carmesi and… frowned at what I ended up looking at.

She was still training despite the fact she looked genuinely winded. Gritting her teeth, the young woman was throwing precise kicks at a soft target, and her attacks were mostly flawless.

‘Mostly’ being a curious keyword considering that the problem wasn’t that she was missing something about the exercise Adela was doing clearly better.

No, the issue was that with each kick, the Fox Prime was forced to pause and hide away the flinches appearing on her visage.

A confused look replaced my frown, and with confusion came worry.

Silently standing up and walking by the entrance of the room, I went to retrieve a first aid kit as I knew that Carmesi had lied about her current state.

While she was faring better than I was, the way she recoiled from her own attacks was a clear sign that she wasn’t completely healed from our previous brawl.

Once I was back at the bench where the girl had left her water bottles and towels, I took a seat by the empty space in there and called for her.

“Carmesi, can you please come here for a moment?”

Tensing up and stopping before delivering her umpteenth kick, the Fox Prime turned to face me with a quizzical and slightly annoyed look.

I rebuked her irritation with a serious look, but I didn’t say anything about why I was asking for her presence.

Addie looked back at me with a curious look, but I gestured to her that it wasn’t something that required her assistance.

With fascination overwhelming her frustration at being interrupted, and perhaps the pain she was feeling through that forced training urging her stop, Carmesi decided to approach me and take a seat beside me.

Trying to appear fine and mostly ‘unscathed’ by the intense session, the young woman merely looked down at the first aid kit in my lap with a confused look.

“Oh? Are you hurt?” The Prime asked teasingly. “Do you need someone to kiss the pain away?”

“I might have to do that, but first I need to check on your legs.”

…

“What?” She muttered blankly and I sighed.

“I saw you flinching each time you threw a kick,” I remarked with a dry tone. “You may fool Addie and Archie, but I don’t think you should lie about this to me.”

“I’m fine and I didn’t lie,” She shot back, but I wasn’t falling for it.

For a moment I thought about going through a lengthy conversation, which would heat up from time to time because of how stubborn we were… but then I realized that it wouldn’t do much with Carmesi.

Too proud, too fiery… but also incredibly easy to fluster with the proper action.

Thus I smiled and shrugged. “Then can you indulge a request of mine about training?”

Her eyes narrowed at me, but I stood up from the bench before she had the chance of saying anything.

“I want to try a more advanced version of what you were doing,” I explained with a grin. “You throw kicks at me, and I have to block those.”

…

“You’re going to get hurt,” The Fox Prime remarked and I snorted.

“Nah, I think you’re the one that should worry about getting hurt,” I countered. “In fact, I think this will cement my suspicions about you being still hurting on your legs.”

“As if I need to prove you anything-”

“Then I guess I’m right,” I interjected quickly. “I mean, it would just take a simple kick to prove the fact you’re truthful. Nothing too difficult or too straining, just a mere kick.”

…

“You’re not letting me go about this.”

“No, I’m not,” I agreed before nodding.

A sigh left her lips and she stood up. “Don’t cry for your mother when your arm starts hurting.”

“If you’re so sure, how about a wager?” I added giddily. “I get to call you a nickname if I’m right, and you get to do the same if you win.”

Carmesi regarded the bet with a scowl, seemingly thinking whenever she should accept it or not.

Finally, she sighed, her eyes glinting a hint of interest about this new addition.

“I will call you Captain Moron when I win.”

“It’s ‘if’.”

“I’m not wrong, and there is no need to correct the truth to hide your predicted failure.”

I found myself confused by her sudden change of mood, and her bravado caught me off-guard as I expected her to be more defensive about the matter.

It was a change that made me doubt a little bit that she was genuinely hurting. That I had seen things wrong and… then I realized that it was a ploy of hers.

It was simple for an arrogant prick to use their own arrogance to trick their opponents to make mistakes, and Carmesi was trying something like that on me.

Sadly, that wasn’t going to work as I took a stance and she took hers.

“I hope you’re ready,” The Fox Prime warned and I shrugged.

“Always ready to be right.”

Her scowl fitted beautifully on her face just as she prepared to throw a kick. But it wasn’t just a kick, it was one way stronger than the ones she used to attack her previous target.

I almost chuckled at her last resort, knowing that the young woman hoped to break into my defense without showing how much hurt her legs were.

But I wasn’t planning to back away, and I knew she was aware of that too.

Her left leg moved like blur, moving up and towards my head only to be stopped by my right arm. The result was a stinging sensation spreading all over my limb and almost making me flinch… while Carmesi yelped as the clash rebounded some of her momentum back on her leg.

Tripping down and clutching at her hurting leg, she groaned as she saw me pick up the kit and crouch down to treat her new bruises.

“I-I’m-”

“A moron, yes. I think I’ve learned about this today, Carmie.”

She gritted her teeth, her attention mostly directed at the pain, but as soon as I started to apply the cooling cream onto the hurting zone, her mind picked up what I had just said.

“You- what did you call me?”

I smiled even more, enjoying the fact I just one-upped this pompous girl out of making a mistake by keeping on hurting her damaged legs. And because I just managed to get a nickname stuck on her because of her own unwillingness to accept the fact she was wrong.

“Your nickname is Carmie,” I replied mirthfully, my eyes still fixed on her left leg as I started to treat it properly with some bandages and a careful massage. “I did win after all.”

Her mouth opened and closed several times, but while her mind couldn’t come up with a response, her eyes were keeping track of my action as I cautiously ended up treating both legs.

It was quick work, nothing much was done to forbid her to do other exercises that didn’t see her legs strained and… she had this strange pout linger on her face for the reminder of the night.

Midnight struck and we were all gone for bed, with Carmesi accepting her newest nickname as soon as Addie was told about this development.

‘Surprisingly’ enough, the gloating seemed to lessen and… I could tell that something changed with Carmesi after that day.

_**She started smiling genuinely more often from that point onward.** _


	7. Crescendo

**Chapter 6: Crescendo**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

**~Different POV~**

“This is indeed an interesting turn of events...”

The command room was devoid of people, as this simple comment was only meant to emphasize the interest born from the recent development about the rebellious Royalist cause.

Minos, General of the Empire, wasn’t someone that truly found the curious rebellion worthy of much attention.

It has already been years of prolonged fighting against this particularly stubborn group, with costly victories thinning out the numbers of Primes serving Prism’s line of monarchs, only leaving a small sliver of the once dangerous threat to the imperial cause.

He could still remember being a young officer when he took part in the last few battles of Queen Sharifa’s reign. And the long conflict that ensued with her daughters… and their descendants after them.

Tiredness swelled within the Bull Prime at remembering how long of a fight the one against Prism’s survivors was. Primes were tough warriors that easily overwhelmed Narakhans in terms of quality.

The imperial soldiers were easily cannon fodders that hardly managed to win a fair fight against any rebel standing against them, but the Empire had a larger and better-equipped army which meant that losing a few hundred to destroy a squad of thirty Prism Warriors was more than a good exchange.

Losses weren’t a problem, not with the extensive propaganda and the Emperor’s mark keeping a firm hold over his followers’ mind.

Minos was spared from this kind of leash, using his actions to prove his loyalty to the Empire several times over now. Centuries gone by being one of the most dedicated and stern generals within the Imperial Army cemented his trustworthiness, and his own abilities allowed him to preserve a stronger hold over his own armies whenever a battle was meant to happen.

The years of fighting didn’t lessen his capacity to notice a dangerous situation, and he was mostly incensed when he learned about Captain Carmesi’s betrayal to the royalist cause.

He had now realized that the woman just wasn’t fit for the military force. Too stubborn, too loud… she was a troublemaker that easily jeopardized the disciplined sense of duty many soldiers had toward the Imperial cause.

To see someone as important as the Crest of Fire leave the Empire to what looked to be a hopeless cause was more than enough to spread newer rounds of defectors among the army’s lines.

And that is if it was ignored that this very event was going to set a problematic precedent. One that was going to put many Primes serving under the Empire at risk of being discharged or killed for small issues.

The quiet humming originating from the terminal was enough to keep him from distracting himself with his own thoughts for too long.

Red eyes soon regained focus as he tried to resume the simple task of concluding a few reports meant to lessen the chances of brutal reprisals that were going to happen with his subordinates.

A difficult assignment for sure, but one that needed to be done to prevent another brain drain and the loss of innovative officers he needed to have in his own staff.

Scratching his temple and twirling a single lock of his brown hair for a brief moment, the Bull Prime knew that while the situation was becoming dire, circumstances still favored an imperial victory over the monarchs of Prism.

With their cause hopeless since it revolved around the finding of the Crests, it was clear that failure was their only option.

There was no way he was going to betray the cause he had fought for so long now, especially with the chances of being blessed with a long and peaceful life once this war was over.

Once the queen was dead, and the Crest of Light soon to follow, the only possible replacement to the royal succession, the Ancient War was going to end in a glorious success for the Emperor.

He could already see it happen. The grand parade in the Narakhan Homeworld, the impressive celebration that he was going to be invited to join by the Emperor’s request and-

“S-Sir!”

Minos blinked, surprise openly displayed as he realized that his secretary was peeking by the entrance of the room.

“Officer Tamerlan, I hope you’ve a good reason to be interrupting-”

“It’s a message from Sandir. They’ve requested for… books, sir.”

...Truly?

His irritation faltered as fascination coaxed his thoughts in a moment of surprise.

“And why is this important?”

Despite the lack of major development, it was still true that this was a complete change from the usual request for simple things that couldn’t enable their secret weapon.

Too dangerous to employ directly in their ranks, their trump card wasn’t aware of the true situation with the war. She didn’t even know that there was an ongoing conflict and that her blood samples weren’t being used to create just vaccines for illnesses.

It was still absurd how the ‘Agápi’ serum was also used as the base for new advanced medicines. The idea of employing the Love Crest’s blood for this endeavor came out of an unplanned experiment ordained by a couple of officers in Sandir before Minos was assigned to keep a watch over the planet.

The discovery was as surprising as it was unexpected, but still good news that was going to aid a large part of the Narakhan population to deal with the after-effects of the Taint. Something about the Serum just seemed to work well with the unhealthy factors that rendered a Narakhan's life a short one.

Despite the undeniably good boon that came out of this endeavor, the exposition of the Crest of Love to a normal environment still felt like a huge risk to take.

Her powers weren’t as easy to keep control over as it had been with the past Crests of Fire, and the chances of her managing to escape somehow from her restraint was a legitimate fear that more than once saw him contemplate returning to the old status of keeping her cryogenically asleep until better equipment to handle her worrisome magic was created.

“Send them a few children’s books. Surely that will do.”

The officer nodded, but before he had the chance to leave, the General felt the need of making a point.

“Also, Officer Tamerlan, I will give you this warning just once. If you have something to bring up that isn’t urgent, I want you to knock at the door instead of busting inside,” The Bull Prime explained with a stern tone. “If you end up forgetting this simple settlement, then I will be more than happy to have someone sharpen your memory through severe punishment.”

The ultimatum seemed to go through with the scared look now plastered on his face confirming this successful approach.

Once again, Minos was left alone in his office and…

Once again, he was left to suffer through the unforgiving paperwork that had accumulated in his terminal.

‘ _**Just a little longer. Kill the Queen and the Crest of Light… and then I will be blessed with a warless life.’** _

\-------------

“But what about the patrol meant to pass through this route?” Adela inquired quietly, her index finger aiming over the area in question. It was right on the line I had drawn within the holographic map in front of us.

Carmesi was here too, but the Fox Prime wasn’t interested in the concept of tactical planning for our next destination.

With the beginning of a new day, the plans for our next steps were laid out in quite the complex map that Archie recreated through the cockpit’s own terminals.

Not only did it work well as a useful representation of our current situation that we could work with, but we were also given the chance of handling a route that wasn’t going to get intercepted by any Imperial fleet.

With Carmesi’s data coming to play, there were a few red ships set within the simulation to represent the hypothetical moves the Empire was set to make for the next couple of days.

It was still tough work considering how much responsibility was behind each step we had to take.

There were multiple routes we could take to reach our destination, Planet Sandir. Some would be faster than others, but in return were riskier to take considering the larger presence of Imperial ships around the planet’s region.

It was going to be difficult to arrive there without getting detected and chased around at least twice, and it was really troublesome as some of the Empire’s ships were damn fast.

Then there was the fact that the galaxy was… massive.

It was something pretty much everyone was aware about, but to be employed to make a trail to follow to reach our next destination… I couldn’t help but feel rather nervous.

Earth was among the heavenly bodies conceptualized by the large construct built by Archie through some of the cockpit’s devices, and while I knew that this vast map wasn’t completely available to the Empire, I also knew that if we ended up captured and interrogated, I was going to end up condemning humanity too if the Emperor got info about my homeworld.

Not a pleasant thought, but one that kicked me in the right direction as I started to lay down a few trails that the ship had to follow so we could reach the planet the safest way possible.

“We can dodge this by going around Planet Agner,” I rebuked quietly, my own index pointing at a large round way over the dangerous section. “Archie will manage the turn flawlessly, and without getting us too close to any sensor in the area.”

The young Queen nodded, her eyes returning to study the latest plan I had offered to her. It’s been two hours now since we started with this, and we both were slowly getting tired by the stressful mission-making.

The Coffee was barely helping with the minor headache I was suffering from after giving out at least thirty different plans, most of those being variants of five or six original ones.

And next on the ‘menu’ was a training session. Which is why Carmesi was growing impatient the more time we ‘wasted’ in finding a solution to this problem, and delaying the training match we had planned before going for some exercises.

I had slowly recovered from our last fight, and Addie had been quite keen to sternly remind us that ‘stupidly fighting each other to exhaustion and for extended damage’ wasn’t something she would be condoning.

But that wasn’t the issue for Carmie, or at least not as prominently as the one she had with me about the nickname.

While she was restrained with her efforts of rebuking my way to address her as such, her pride wouldn’t allow her to outright refuse that label. The fact that the shortened nickname was also meant to help by ‘allowing quick communication to happen during a fight’ just added extra salt to her open injury.

She was really vexed about the matter. Her face would just turn a darker shade of red as an annoyed pout would alternate just for an irked scowl.

The Fox Prime was quite the endearing character if one knew how to handle her. Not that she was easy to approach without taking huge risks with her temper, but it wasn’t that complicated when sparring and training were involved in any opportunity to hang together.

“I think this will do,” Addie concluded quietly, a hum soon following as she looked one last time at the lengthy green line that represented the route we were to take to reach our destination. “I suppose Archie is already aware of the amount of dangerous turns the ship will have to take-”

“I’ve already run a couple of simulations to test the best speed and curving pattern to follow with each turn, ma’am,” The Spirit interrupted chirpily. “While Boss seems to be quite taken with bizarre turns, I can make all of them safely and without a problem.”

The Coyote Prime smiled at the positive response. “That’s good to know, thank you.”

Ignoring the interaction, Carmesi turned at me with a bored look, but her eyes were now hinting a degree of hope that was impressive to find in her. Even though she had yet to speak up, I knew what she was going to say already.

“Does this mean that-”

“Yes, we’re going to train now,” I interjected calmly, holding back any clue of tiredness at her pestering. For having served the military for a while, she sure was troublesome to handle in this kind of circumstances.

Like a puppy that was given a ball to play with, her expression lightened up and she almost jumped up from her seat.

“Finally!”

I was so close to facepalm at the scene, but I was quickly distracted by Adela as she brought up a curious comment while still regarding Archie.

“Also, since the current course doesn’t require major adjustments, how about you join us for training?”

The spirit blinked. “Can I?”

The Fox Prime hummed. “How good are you at fighting?”

The question was met with a smirk as the little guy made one of the unused glasses by the sink fly before destroying it with… his arm-cannon.

A strange contraption akin to a cannon created around his right hand, producing a white beam that easily shattered the sudden target.

“I think I’m good.”

“You got a long-range weapon… I suppose you’re not good at hand-to-hand combat.”

“Nope. Sorry about that, Carmie.”

She twitched at the nickname, but still nodded back at that response. “Then you can stay and watch, but I will not spar with someone that can’t handle close quarters.”

“I’m fine with it,” Archie accepted happily. “Also, about yesterday night, I think I should tell you that the washing machines are at the end of the hallway. Hiding your used clothes under the bed will not do-”

“I-I was going to ask,” Carmesi interjected tensely, trying to damage control of that awkward discovery.

So she didn’t know where the washing machines were and… she tried to pull the standard ‘under the bed’ tactic.

Heh.

Despite this little dampening factor to her mood, her giddiness for a rematch proved to be as persisting as her determination was.

Twenty minutes passed quietly as we all moved to the gym room, and got all the equipment we needed to set up the spar.

She was using two practice daggers, while I was once again stuck with the wooden.

The rules were quite simple. No Magic was to be used and… the match was over once one of the two was hurt to the point of submission.

It was going to be more tame than what we had in our first brawl, but I knew that this was still going to be pretty intense despite the limitations we were working with.

Standing in front of her, with my hands tightly holding the hilt of the practice sword, I used the quiet preparation to brace myself for a swift assault.

I was proven correct when the Crest charged at me, her dull ‘blades’ barely considered a threat as I started to swing at her approaching attacks.

Her physical prowess was the same as back then. She had just started to train intensively, and I knew that this was just the beginning for a massive potential growth for Carmie as she skyrocketed to her very limits and beyond.

Her grin was matched with my smile as we both entertained each other with a dance of attacks and counters. There was no reason to rush for the win. The longer this fight was, the more chances of noticing personal flaws that could be improved with new exercises.

Right now her most evident issue was her strength. She was barely reaching my own might, and I knew that it was going to be the element that was going to get corrected the most through extensive muscle building.

I wasn’t expecting her to bulk up and ditch her excellent speed just to handle this problem, but I knew that she was going to need more food on her plate to get the mass to keep up with the demanding exercises.

_And guess who is going to be the one that will have to prepare bigger meals for her?_

Sneaking a kick to her lower thigh through her hasty defense, I felt smug at how easy it was to deal with her without facing her powerful fire-related attacks. The proud woman took notice of this too, her teeth gritting as she tried to outpace me as soon as she recoiled from that first damage she received.

The intensity only grew more as I kept on dodging and blocking the furious swipes of her hungry daggers. Carmesi was now willing to take risk on herself for the sake of returning the favor back to me, and that boded bad for me as I was suddenly pushed to just defend from her high-speed assault.

I tensed as one of her daggers managed to slam at one of my arms, the area quickly feeling the sting and going stiff for a brief moment.

She chuckled, enjoying the unconscious reaction, but not lingering for too long over the sight as she knew this was all but the beginning.

My breath burned in my lungs as air was being forcefully pushed in and out of me, my body demanding for a quickening from everything I had within. My thoughts were speeding up like crazy, and most of them were small and short-termed ones as I couldn’t afford to make too elaborate of a plan in the heat of the fight.

I wasn’t sure if Carmesi was dealing with the same situation as mine, but I could tell from the way we were soon matching up evenly that her bolstered attack had faded away at seeing a first step in a possible win for herself.

A stalemate, and one I doubted I was going to come out on top if she decided to further press her advantage with her speed.

I was already feeling some strain after that much attention being given to attack me, but I could tell she was screwing her stamina by being so aggressive with her fighting style.

Eventually I landed a noticeable blow on her kneecap, causing her leg to stiffen up and make her stance falter just enough for a quick continuation. The Fox Prime looked absolutely pissed as I managed to take a swift jab at her face, and she retorted by landing a kick onto my chest.

The pressure was insane, and despite our promise to Addie, I could feel the rush starting to kick in and-

“That’s enough.”

We both paused before we had the chance to resume the tense skirmish, both our stares turning at the young Queen as the girl shook her head.

“You two have done enough for today.”

“W-What?” Carmesi blurted with a shocked tone. “But I- we didn’t even-”

“Look at each other, you both were trying to remake what happened last time.”

The brutal rebuttal got a flinch out of me as that instantly snapped me out of trying to resume the brawl.

Was it the Fire element calling for a more heated fight just like last time? That mere possibility got me to back away from the idea of continuing the spar, and even though Carmesi herself seemed quite understanding of the matter, she was absolutely livid at being stopped this suddenly.

“Y-You could’ve allowed us to fight a little more. Until we’re not beating each other, I don’t see-”

“We should stop,” I said, drawing her shocked look on me.

“What?”

“We have yet to do our planned exercises today. And if we tire each other too much with this, then we can’t go through the rest,” I replied calmly, using this break from training to regain control over my breathing. Seriously, that was quite intense. “Plus, I really don’t want to sleep at the hospital bed tonight.”

Raising some legitimate points, I knew where to press to get her to accept this situation. And she did… albeit with some reservations.

“Still, I think we should do a full spar in a day or two from now,” The Fox Prime demanded. “I refuse to just stand with a minor victory-”

“It was a draw.”

“Victory, and I want an actual rematch.”

…

“Okay,” I accepted. “But we’re making bets out of those spars.”

“Deal.”

“Do I get a say on this or-”

“It’s between him and me, your highness,” Carmesi quickly replied. “So until I’m asking to fight you, I don’t see why you should be involved.”

“Theo is my knight,” Addie rebuked and the Fox Prime merely snorted.

“And does that mean he can’t make that kind of decision?”

That very question left the young Queen surprisingly quiet for the remainder of the training session. I was surprised at this sudden comment from Carmie, but I knew she was partly right about it.

I might be Adela’s knight, but I was still allowed to make choices as silly as the one I had just made.

_**But despite my best interest in keeping myself focused on training, I found this topic persisted in my thoughts until nighttime.** _

\----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-------

A yawn left my lips as I placed my journal back to the bedside. Another chapter had been written down, and I felt tired enough to call it a day.

Dinner had been particularly light, and there wasn’t much happening once we were done through the various training sessions for today. My body felt sore, and the softness of my bed was almost alluring as I prepared to catch some due rest.

But instead of outright trying to get to sleep, I decided to check on a small device I had kept a secret from the rest of the group. Except Archie, of course.

The Nanozell Spirit had quickly spotted my cell phone and had given it a ‘full look’ before taking a liking with some of the songs there.

I didn’t have a long list to pick from, but the little music I had in there was more than enough to keep me distracted as I checked the photo gallery.

Staring at one of the oldest photos I had when I still lived in the United States, I remembered that it was taken when dad taught me how to fish.

At first the task had been so boring for the child me as the activity required patience and quiet, but I soon took a liking to the pleasant silence and pauses between the few catches of the day.

I could still remember when I started to take swimming lessons, when I gave a brief look at photography and… and these times were nice.

Another yawn left me as I allowed the suave tune I had picked to lull me into sleep. At this point I needed to get as many hours of rest as I could.

With how unpredictable things were, I had to keep vigilant and ready in case there was a need of help from me.

Nuzzling on my pillow, I felt so close to actually falling asleep, but just as I felt a smile adorn my face in preparation for a few hours without anything to worry about, my attention was fully awakened by someone knocking at the door of the room.

It wasn’t too loud, but my half-tired stare turned to the entrance and I sighed. “Who is it?”

“ _I-It’s me_.”

Addie?

My mind started to recover more awareness under those circumstances.

“Is something wrong? Do you need to enter inside?”

There was silence for a couple of seconds, and then the girl spoke again.

“ _I… I need to enter inside._ ”

I nodded. “Please do,” I replied quickly, feeling rather perplexed over the unexpected visit.

The Coyote Prime opened the door and took two steps inside before closing it behind her.

She was holding a pillow in her arms and close to her chest. Her usual dress with armor pieces was now replaced by what I could only see as her nightwear.

The dark dress was a sleeveless one that barely reached her knees. It was pretty light for clothes considering how conservative the girl was on a normal basis, but I could tell that it had to be a nightmare to rest with too much on while having fur.

And I didn’t have room to say much since I had just a sleeveless white shirt on and a pair of short blue pants as my sleepwear. The sheets of the bed were covering most of me, but she seemed to realize that I was sleeping light myself.

“I… I’m sorry that I came here abruptly.”

I frowned at the sudden senseless apology.

“Did something happen? Do you need help with something or-”

“I know it’s childish but… I need to ask you a huge favor,” She interjected tensely. “You… I wish to sleep with you.”

…

“What?”

“I-I tried to deal with the nightmares on my own but… they don’t stop,” The young Queen confessed. “I… I need to stay around someone I trust. And I need you.”

She was still having nightmares about her mother’s death?

I was unsure how to treat this sudden development as I knew that this was the kind of scene that either kept or broke a friendship. Then again, this was beyond simple friendship.

Not only was Addie asking me something that revolved around a blind amount of trust. Something that just shouldn’t be happening after so little time has passed since we’ve known each other.

_**Yet you’re the only individual that she can rely on.** _

_That is true-_

_**And you don’t want her to go through this alone.** _

_Once again, I don’t want to hurt her but-_

_**But what? Should she go to Carmie and be flatly refused? Archie can’t exactly sleep properly, so he’s out of the count too.** _

_...Okay, you won this time around, brain._

_**Heh.** _

“Okay.”

“A-And I’m not trying to- Wait, what?”

“I said ‘okay’,” I repeated myself, blinking at her surprised look. “I mean, you have a decent reason to come and ask that here. I know you’re in need of someone around and… I can somewhat relate since I really have an issue with new settings.”

Addie pondered about my words for a moment, and then her green eyes hinted at some realization. “That panic attack, back when you were first summoned.”

“Yep.”

…

“So you’re allowing me to… stay here?”

“Sure.”

The girl looked incredibly unsure as to how to go through with this, but after a while she managed to walk closer to the bed and… slip inside the empty space I offered to her.

The bed was big as it was for just me, but with a second occupant I felt cramped and pressed quite close to Adela.

Keeping tense for some time, I could tell that the Coyote Prime was having these awkward thoughts too. It didn’t help that we were blushing stupidly as this was, albeit strange, a legitimately fine situation.

It was still a hefty amount of trust she was throwing at me and… I didn’t know if I was meant to be awed or concerned by this escalation.

I decided to just allow myself to find rest for once, sparing Adela little to none interest whatsoever once we were together in bed.

At first I thought she would’ve started to talk and ask about my perspective in current events. It was just normal for her to be curious about the current state of things from another perspective, or even ask more about humans since this was as awkward it was for Primes as it was for humans.

But then I saw her yawn and snuggle on the pillow we were now sharing, her face turned my way as she closed her eyes and carefully slipped into proper sleep. The pillow that she had brought with herself became a divisive barrier between the two of us… yet it looked pretty flimsy since how soft and thin the thing looked to be.

Still, this surprising phenomenon took about ten minutes to come to an end, and I was surprised that the cliché I had expected to be part of never took off.

…

Yet sleep took sure some time to take me too in dreamland as I found myself mesmerized by the eased look the girl had on her face. It was so pretty and… I couldn’t stare away for a while.

A yawn preceded the fact that moments later I would find rest in that bizarre setting.

With the warmth coming from Addie’s size of the bed, I felt surprisingly fine with the current disposition and I expected to have a calm rest out of it.

But while I was able to achieve so much to my relief, the same was partly wrong from the young queen’s side of the situation.

It was only theoretical at best since it happened while I was already sleeping, but considering her nightmares, I was sure that the reason why I woke up with her arms wrapping around my neck and her face pressing on my chest was somehow related to it.

_**And boy, how awkward it was when we both woke up at the same time in that close disposition.** _

**\----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d--d-------**

**AN**

**The Queen finds solace in her knight’s company… while someone else is thinking about the past, the present and the future.**

**The question is… will fluff win over it all?**


	8. Interlude 2

** Interlude 2 **

There are only a handful of things that can manage to annoy Carmesi.

Most of them were related to social interactions and fighting, with just a few exceptions piling down the vast turmoil that was currently taking her attention away from making plans about training.

This wasn’t a usual night of rest for her, but then again, this new situation was different compared to what she was accustomed to.

A fresh breath of air… this can either bring her good fortune or leave her to face the possibility of being tried for high treason if she ends up captured.

The Fox Prime wasn’t too afraid of this possibility. She rather not think too much about it though, especially with the fact that nothing great occurred without a huge sacrifice.

Staying with the Empire would’ve been her safest route for the rest of the war, yet it didn’t guarantee a decent life for her once this conflict was over.

Her thoughts on parting ways with the Emperor’s cause might have originated from the first time she was admonished by General Minos. 

The fact that the humiliation dented her prideful shell allowed for some contemplation to happen and… she was concerned by what that thinking session left her with.

The moment all enemies to the Empire were gone, she would instantly lose any importance within the Army.

As the Crest of Fire, being quickly disposed of wasn’t doable. Death wasn’t the real issue that got her feeling dreadful.

It was the possibility of being forced into a political marriage to another high officer. She couldn’t see the Emperor blessing a union between her and Minos, albeit the resulting offspring would likely have the potential of being the strongest warrior. 

No, he wouldn’t want a possible contender to worry about.

Someone lesser in terms of combat prowess. Someone that could make her easy to manipulate and control.

Not a happy prospect for her future, and that was one of the big factors that drove her to switch allegiances to this seemingly condemned cause.

‘Seemingly’. Carmesi was tempted to snort at the silly allusion of being more than enough to take on a monster like the Emperor.

She was strong, but she wasn’t fighting a God-Slayer in a single match.

It wasn’t just possible. If there was something that she agreed with Queen Adela’s assessment, it was that the Crests had to be reunited for the leading bastard to be taken out.

And this task was far from easy, considering their current resources. In fact, the trip to reach the planet where the supposed Love Crest was being held would take about a day or two.

Sandir wasn’t considered a renowned planet within the Imperial’s space. A prison planet among prison planets.

These were places that were impossible to colonize for a reason or another, and Sandir’s real problem was the never-ending storm of ice that kept it deadly cold.

But while it wasn’t the place to spend a nice holiday with friends and family, the place did well its job to create an unpleasant place for prisoners to ‘work their crimes’.

Escaping through land was not doable, and the hangars were tightly monitored and guarded by cameras and most of the guards assigned to the facility.

The data Carmesi had recovered about that place was scarce, but it’s not because she hadn’t put effort in scavenging this much info about it.

The Empire was rather jealous of the secrets it held from its public, armies, and enemies.

And even as a Captain, the Fox Prime didn’t have enough power to get important information about the garrison on the planet.

The name of the directors, the safe code to request a landing space by the hangar- heck, she couldn’t even get a precise location of where the facility was located.

Huffing in clear annoyance, Carmesi’s mind decided to shift away from the mission at hand… and back to the present. And right to the reason that saw her groaning her soul out during that quiet night spent in solitude.

That human, Theo, he was… confusing. Not that she wasn’t in the mood to outright know everything about the individual that was supposed to be her newest ally- and the ‘prime’ reason she decided to leave the Empire.

He didn’t look like much appearance-wise. He seemed focused on training and beat back that silly perception of weakness that he would offer by merely… being himself.

But Theo was far from weak, and Carmesi was more than happy to say that he was someone she could genuinely trust as a training buddy.

He didn’t ask any unpleasant questions, he didn’t fawn over her like the bastards back in the Imperial Training Facility did, and he didn’t give her any annoying rules to follow.

In fact, the human was quite trusting despite having been recruited so recently.

What really frustrated the young woman to somehow think more of this bizarre fellow, who lacked fur and spoke of a different species than Narakhans and Primes, was the way he was so at ease around her. And how she was fine with it all by the end of the day.

‘Carmie’.

The pet name came from a bet, and despite her irritation at being ‘fine’ with this infuriating matter, she still found it irking how she couldn’t muster much annoyance out of him saying it.

The Queen and the Spirit that piloted the ship had also decided to make use of it from time to time, but with them it was easy to get frustrated at.

But Theo? Carmesi couldn’t exactly ask him to not call her that nickname. It sounded so much like begging for him to forget the stupid defeat she suffered against him.

The wager had been accepted without manipulation and without any emotional influence that would’ve made her choice for her.

Trying to ‘delete’ it wouldn’t just be foolish on her part, but also cowardly. And Carmesi wasn’t a coward.

This was the mindset that rejected the idea of inquiring for a change about the topic, but there was also a detail that slowly and steadily left her more and more perplexed about the matter.

She… liked being called ‘Carmie’ by him. It just didn’t feel as offensive as she had first imagined it to be as he was careful with his tone.

He wasn’t trying to be mean, or even malicious with the teasing. There was a ‘stop’ that would become a self-imposed limit the human had yet to dare to break.

Maybe she was just seeing things right now… or maybe the scene was far too evident and clear to not believe otherwise.

A sigh left her lips as she turned to look up at the ceiling, her blue eyes slowly losing focus as the need to rest slowly eroded her interest in staying up to think some more.

There wasn’t anything else left to think… for now. Maybe sleep will give her new topics to ponder about when she will finally be alone once again.

Yet she wasn’t really alone, Carmesi knew that. She was alone with other lonely people… and that somehow made it soothing and pleasant to conclude that silent monologue of her.

_** And she dreamed of screams and fire, just like every single night since she was taken in by the Empire. ** _

**\---------** **d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d----**

**AN**

**Next proper chapter will be uploaded this Wednesday.**

  
  



	9. A Prima Vista

**Chapter 7: A Prima Vista**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

A few days of training and relative tranquility passed. I was finally noticing something improving within my stance and my stamina, both departments being what I had been mostly working on during this time, and I’ve finally started to understand how magic works.

Light Magic was perhaps the easiest one to understand considering that it was the first one I managed to call upon. The energy is… complicated to explain in simple words, but the gist is that I would end up with a decent boost and an advantage over any enemy using Dark Magic or Chaos Magic.

The second and perhaps more difficult element to start training with was Fire. While Carmesi made it appear like an easy feat to make use during a fight, the unruly nature of this Magic was not something I had been prepared for.

Not only was its power difficult to regulate and control, but it was also easy for me to get irritated while using it. My early inability to make use of Fire Magic was something that Carmie saw as a reason to gloat over me, but only for so long until I started throwing fireballs out of my palms.

My aim sucked, and the flames’ density was still work in progress, but it was still a couple of steps in the right direction.

Addie was also shifting her attention to refining her own magic, mentioning how it could turn surprisingly useful if she somehow was deprived of her bow and arrows. The girl might be a professional bowgirl, but she was far from being able to handle herself in a close-encounter situation with an opponent faster than her.

A certain Fox Prime discovered this during a simple spar, and while Carmie had many reasons to be smug around the Queen, she decided against doing so, for now. In fact, the one she decided to bestow with an unquestionable amount of gloating over… was me.

Irritating as usual, she seemed to have grown accustomed to the pet name I’ve bestowed her. More than enough to actually shrug the usual frustration off whenever I tried to use it against her during a fight.

To be fair, I should’ve expected for her to just grow a thicker skin about it and roll with it for the sake of depriving me of that advantage, but I was still impressed by how quickly all of this happened.

Speaking of the former Imperial Captain, the young woman was more than happy to learn that she hadn’t really mastered the full potential of her Crest. Not only did that open the door to seeing her become a stronger training buddy, but it offered the chance of seeing her capacity to harm the Empire increase in the long-run. Which were both good news in the grand scheme of things.

Still, while we were blessed with these positive novelties, there was still an obstacle that existed between us and our objective.

Sandir was a planet stuck in a perpetual storm of ice and cold, it was inhabitable and considered ideal just for the harsh conditions of housing a large prison on its surface.

The problem with infiltrating the place?

The facility was furnished with a powerful detection array and had a powerful energy field that would activate at the first hint of an attack or prison break from the outside.

The follow up issue?

There was a massive ship floating above Sandir’s surface, right above the area where the prison was located.

It was surprising to find something this big assigned to deal with the simple task of sending in prisoners, but it was Carmie that confirmed my worries that this wasn’t merely a cargo-ship full of criminals to leave in that frozen hell.

“That’s- That’s General Minos’ flagship,” The Fox Prime commented loudly, her face almost slamming on the glass of the frontal section of the cockpit as she recognized this.

“Your former superior?”

Nodding, she gritted her teeth at this development. “He is the one behind the last five campaigns against the royal family’s loyalists.”

“I’ve never heard of him before-”

“That’s because he never took pride in the victories he scored against your family,” Carmesi interjected, turning to stare at the young Queen before approaching the strategic board. “He would always leave the glory to one of his subordinates since he never cared for any of that. He believes in the Emperor, and he considers his work to be a more than enough reward to fight for him.”

“Sounds like a fanatic,” I pointed out quietly.

“That’s what I thought at first, but then I learned he is just a bookish Bull Prime with minor anger issues,” The girl commented with some irritation. “He is a rule-stickler, so much that I could tell he already saw me unfit from the first day I started to work under his command.”

“Why would he be here of all places?” I questioned with a frown. “Shouldn’t he be… leading some fleet away from this quadrant?”

The Fox Prime hesitated about this, actually thinking over the subject instead of throwing out the first suggestion her mind offered.

Ultimately that question was answered by someone else, much to the relief of everyone's relief.

“Boss, I just finished decrypting a couple of messages exchanged between the ship and the prison,” Archie quipped with a tiny smile. “They are not here for us. The messages speak of loading a quantity of something from within the prison to the flagship, and I think it’s the ‘Agápi’.”

“Do they have any defense set up right now?” Adela inquired and the Spirit replied with a quick ‘negative’.

Humming, I approached the frontal section of the cockpit as I stared at the small blue connection made of energy between the ship and the facility.

“Archie, is that an Orbital Elevator?” I inquired while aiming a finger at the curious detail. The Nanozell Spirit floated to reach a closer position and… he nodded.

“It is, boss.”

I hummed again, this time drawing the attention of the two Primes within the room.

“What is he thinking?” Carmesi asked quietly to the fellow woman, and the Coyote Prime sighed.

“Something incredibly dumb but effective.”

Frowning, I turned to the young queen with a betrayed look. “It’s not… that dumb.”

“Just explain.”

_Gah, is this what happens after I gave her permission to come by for some sleep together after that first night? I swear, she sure knows how to be a prick from time to time… There is_ _**mostly**_ _nothing wrong with my plans._

“While the ID Carmie’s destroyed ship had isn’t usable for obvious reasons, Archie and I came up with a small plan that would work well with the current situation,” I replied with a small smile. “It was something that we developed after he showed me how he can easily copy someone’s voice and mannerism after listening to a couple of registrations.”

“And?” The Fox Prime inquired impatiently.

“And we managed to find someone that is known to make irregular visits to the prison from the database you gave us. An important doctor that has absolute authority over any operations happening in Sandir. Well beyond what this ‘General’ holds.”

“But how would that work out?”

“The Doctor is known to… send some infected specimens from outside Sandir to test the effects of the ‘Agápi’ on those,” Archie replied for me. “There is a quarantine code established to prevent the spread of any virus or infection whenever this situation happens, and that would force anyone inside the ship to offer a clear path to the orbital elevator and… right to the source of the substance inside the prison.”

Adela frowned at this, her arms crossing close to her chest. “Isn’t that a little bit… easy?”

“Not entirely, especially since those quarantines only offer a small amount of time to get inside and grab the specimen inside the facility before having the ship removed from the hangar to decontaminate the ship,” I explained with an uneasy tone. “Once inside the prison, we will only have a short window of opportunity to find the Love Crest, deactivate the Detection Array and the Shield Generator, and then wait for Archie to pick us up.”

“We can do it. Most of the prisons look the same with how they are built so...” Carmesi agreed quietly, turning to Addie with eyes filled with interest over this dangerous plan.

The Queen groaned, facepalming at the situation. “To think I expected for you to be less suicidal with the planning.”

“ _ Your Highness _ , I think we can all agree we are strong enough to pull this off,” Carmesi smugly teased, smiling at the scowl popping from the Coyote Prime at the clear provocation.

“Fine, but you better be serious with the fighting. No gloating, no lingering with our enemies.”

“I will not,” The fellow woman accepted with a brighter grin. “And I hope you can keep up with us.”

And… that was a curious conclusion to that exchange. Are they competing about this mission? Why? And to what end?

These questions were there to stay unanswered much to my growing confusion as the next step of the plan was… starting the plan at once.

Opening communications with the flagship was fairly easy, and Archie managed to copy flawlessly the voice of the individual he was impersonating as the individuals assigned to the exchange seemed to take his request as true. We were soon provided with one of the numerous hangars on the ship’s sides.

It took twenty excruciating minutes of silence to see all the landing procedure completed, and we quickly bailed out from the entrance we had been near to the moment Archie gave us the signal to move.

I only paused for a moment to study the dark-red metal used to make the entirety of the ship. The hangar reminded me a lot of those shown in the Star Wars movies, yet the ships in there were all set in a parking spot by the corner of the massive room.

But I didn’t spend too long within the area as we were running on a tight schedule. With Archie providing me with directions, I led the small group around the empty hallways of the ship, glad to see that the plan was working so smoothly for us.

Five minutes went by like this, with utter quiet and irritating tension, and we eventually arrived at our destination.

The large room was as vacant as the path that we had just finished to go through, but the terminals in there were already set to allow us a safe arrival to the planetside. We carefully walked toward the large light-blue circle in the middle of the room, the detail reminding me way too much about a certain level from the first Halo.

“Archie, we’re here,” I announced through the earpiece I was wearing. “We will go full radio-silence until we complete all objectives. You should warm up the engines already.”

The spirit sighed through the other side. “ _** Already done that and more, boss. I will see you in a short while then! ** _ ”

I turned to stare at the two Primes, both giving me a firm nod as the device started to activate and… we were  _ shifted  _ on Sandir’s surface, precisely within the area that had the purpose of receiving anyone arriving through the Orbital elevator.

Stopping for a moment to get a grip over myself at the unnatural action, I looked around at the desolate room and… sighed. This sure was going to be a rather difficult quest, but one that we were going to accomplish.

I knew we could.

_** And thus, without further ado, we started to delve deeper into the Belly of the Beast, unaware that things weren’t going to be easy for us as initially planned. ** _

\----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-----------

** ~Different POV~ **

“I suppose she hasn’t been giving you much trouble,” Minos muttered quietly, admiring the view offered by the warden’s office over the prisoners at work.

While it was true that sending them out to the cold would just be detrimental, the simple task of having them recover precious minerals from the specimen of rocks some machines had recovered from outside was something that still made them productive and busy from plotting against the administration.

Plus it offered the Empire a small influx of precious metals to refine and then turn into expensive objects for the Emperor to add to his ever-growing treasury.

The warden, an old Narakhan that had very little marks over his face, regaled him with a nervous but polite nod.

“She is as inquisitive as usual, but also tame enough to not press for too much,” The elder admitted. “I’ve long understood that worrying too much about her interest in books would just make me appear too paranoid and brash.”

“And you’re not,” The Bull Prime admitted with a respectful tone. “This facility’s production has only improved ever since you took over.”

“Kind words from a good General as you, sir,” The warden nodded happily.

“Only the truth. You have yet to fail the Emperor, and I doubt you will with how well your career has turned out to be.”

The exchange was mere courtesy considering how frequently the Crest of Earth visited the establishment, but maybe there was a sense of genuineness within his words.

The warden had worked his way of success from mere grunt to the current position he held. The man was… a fine soldier, but a gifted administrator that served the Empire best as the regular authority of this facility.

This prison was considered one of the most productive within the Empire’s reach, and it wasn’t just for the ‘Agápi’. Ores of various kinds were found within the depths of the planet, making it a valuable element to the Imperial economy.

While war products dominated the internal market unopposed, the rich resources used to fuel the civilian industry favored a stable society that didn’t profit from forcing people into the army.

It would’ve been problematic for the Empire as a whole if the entire workforce shifted to the army rather than occupying the essential jobs of administration, bureaucracy, and justice.

The Emperor was powerful, but he was no slave to its people and would never consider taking direct control of any of the sectors he had established with his reign.

It was important for everyone to do their duties, and not just on the frontlines, but also in the factories and the government buildings in the planets under Imperial jurisdiction.

Before he could continue with these thoughts, their private conversation was interrupted by loud footsteps before the door opened to a pair of officers.

“G-General Minos, Lord Warden,” The cadets saluted, and the Bull Prime merely sighed.

“At ease.”

“Sir- we got a message from the flagship. Doctor Sichaínomai is visiting and… the quarantine code just entered into effect.”

The Earth Crest tensed, his red eyes finally turning to glance at the nervous duo.

“So suddenly? I would’ve expected him to leave some sort of notice before coming after what happened last time,” Minos commented with a confused tone. “I suppose you’ve verified if it was truly him or-”

“The communication section of your ship confirmed it was him, sir. The voice was his and there were some distinct traits of his known accent and mannerism that were noted by the technicians.”

…

That should’ve been enough to confirm the integrity of the visit, yet the Bull Prime knew that something felt off about this development.

While the doctor was known to make sudden visits from time to time, the promise the researcher had almost proclaimed of giving a warning of a few days before visiting that he had given last time… made it feel like there was something much more than it seemed.

Plus, he couldn’t help but feel suspicious after learning that the Royal force were now searching from the Crests. By all means, this shouldn’t have been possible considering how tight the security is within the prison, and there was no way they knew about the location of the Love Crest.

It would be absurd, but then again Carmesi was seen exchanging messages with officers that were known to have looked around in the wrong places for the wrong reasons.

The chances of the traitorous captain knowing the real purpose of this location were… pretty unpleasant to consider.

Yet that inner struggle hardly fitted with his reputation, and Minos knew that there was just one way to see if he was just being paranoid or not.

“Warden, I would like to see the camera footage on the path provided to Doctor Sichaínomai’s group,” The General asked with a calm tone. “Quickly so.”

The old man nodded, taking a seat by his desk as he started to work through his personal terminal and… numerous holographic windows opened in front of Minos.

Eyes widening in surprise, he managed to hold himself from gawking as he looked through the footage and saw three individuals swiftly through the facility, never stopping through their quick-paced rush around the prison.

He could recognize Princess Adela, the traitorous Carmesi… but he found himself struggling in remembering what kind of creature or person was leading the tiny squad.

It was bipedal, just like Narakhans and Primes but… without fur.

_ How interesting. _

“S-Sir, they are moving fast,” One of the rookies spoke up again, and the General blinked as he regarded them both with an annoyed look.

“Then take measures to stop them. Isolate the Primes off from… that curious fellow spearheading this intrusion,” He ordered calmly. “And make sure to not use lethal force.”

The Princess and the rebellious officer would surely make good bargaining chips to the ever-soft Queen Rehema. And that would be enough to draw the final chapter of that annoying rebellion.

_** And now, let’s see what kind of being is the one that is currently leading this futile expedition. ** _

\-----------d-d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d--------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d------------

Left and right. Left and right.

This pattern was starting to get me sick beyond relief. Sure, I wasn’t going to complain over the fact that this path was created through some computer-based equation, but I was going to lament the fact it was decided to have a blasted machine to give us this zig-zagged route.

Huffing quietly, I could feel some of the adrenaline already vanishing after encountering no resistance along the way. And while it was expected for us to not find anyone along the way this early on within this mission, I was slowly starting to crave for a fight.

_ Fire Magic, no. Bad Fire Magic. _

I doubted my thoughts could reach something that didn’t have a consciousness, but it served as a distraction from being reminded of how boring and quiet this whole experience has been this early on.

It didn’t help that I soon found myself handling quite the atrocious behavior that Carmie could’ve mustered out of this already nerve-grating predicament.

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

The young woman hummed, returning silent for some time and-

“Are we there yet?”

“He just said no,” Addie replied tiredly, and I could tell that I was already suffering through this development as much as I was.

The Fox Prime merely nodded, but just as she prepared to erode our willpower by offering that blasted question for the umpteenth time, something odd happened.

“Are we the-GAH!

I heard a sudden ‘bang’, the kind of noise that would happen only when someone slammed their face on something sturdy and unforgiving. Like the energy barrier that suddenly appeared between me and the two Primes.

Carmesi growled against it as she slowly stood up from the floor, with her right hand nursing her hurting nose.

I grimaced over the unexpected trouble as it literally divided us in two uneven groups. Still, we were lucky enough that no one got wounded seriously with that sneak attack.

“What do we do now?” Addie asked with renewed tension, her eyes intensely demanding a quick question.

“We try to reconnect somehow. There has to be another section that will see us reuniting again,” I muttered swiftly. “But beware. They have to know we are here.”

Adrenaline overruled any fright or worry I had over the sudden situation, and I quickly started to make my way through the established destination. The priority was to meet up with the two young women, but I couldn’t do this without knowing the exact map of the prison.

Thus I had to improvise. And I tended to improvise really hard when put under this much pressure.

Pacing quickly through the hallways, my ears twitched attentively as I carefully listened for any noise that could hint at anyone rushing to my general position.

My annoyance started to rise up the moment I saw two large beings rushing towards me from the direction I was running to.

They were donning green full-plated armors and… I really wasn’t sure if I could’ve handled that kind of heat just yet. Which is why instead of seeking the direct confrontation, I tried to rush to one of the doors to the side-

Only for both openings to be blocked by energy barriers akin to the one that separated me from the rest of the team.

Gritting my teeth, I knew that whoever was playing with the mainframe knew how to push new ‘toys’ to play their games.

Sadly for them, I wasn’t a good puppet.

Instead of rushing for a deadly fight with the Elite Guards, I slammed my sword on the panel that was keeping the door open. Electricity and metal exploded from the broken device, with the doors swiftly shutting down at the lack of electricity and preventing the Guards from reaching me.

I was still in a modest-size cage since the door behind me was blocked by an energy barrier too and… I wasn’t planning to stay around for the owners of this facility to get their hands on me.

No, I needed to move and it had to be quick.

Looking around, my stare eventually landed on the grated opening on the lower side of the room that led to the vents.

My sword moved into action, slamming fiercely over the metallic obstacle between myself and my way out of this little trap. The barrier was quickly destroyed, and I was given the means to finally leave through the ventilation system.

_ Hopefully this doesn’t leave me in some dumpster room that compressed all trash before burning it with acid like in Star Wars. _

It wasn’t a fall into oblivion the one that ensued my quick departure from the cage, but rather one that led to a section of the ventilation system that I was able to walk through by keeping crouched through the whole experience.

I wasn’t given any issue with this little stunt, but I knew that the more I lingered, the more it was possible for Carmie and Addie to be cornered by the one controlling the security system.

The route through the vents was… frustrating. While it wasn’t cramped and I wasn’t feeling claustrophobic, I still wasn’t feeling well over the emotional cocktail created by panic, dread, nervousness and fear.

I kept going despite these feelings, but my paranoia was skyrocketing the more I was detached from the rest.

_ Move, move,  _ _** MOVE! ** _

Impatience was also another element that was slowly influencing my pace as I really wanted to get out of this nightmare at once.

Despite my wishes to be freed from this unhappy derailment, I was forced to jump off another ledge to another lower section of the vents and… this one felt different.

There was just something about the air there that was different from the previous areas.

It just felt… filtered. Sterilized. Like in a hospital.

Knowing that my luck with the vents was turning quite miserable, I decided against trusting myself to those once more. Kicking as hard as I could against the grated obstacle that led to the nearby room, I decided to add some Fire Magic to blast the thing away instead of wasting time.

The result was a fiery explosion that left me unharmed considering that I was the user of that Magical ability. Quickly stepping out of the vents, I took a moment to look around myself and study where I was.

This place looked… cooler. As in I felt a shiver go down my spine at the sudden temperature drop I was subjected to. The walls around me also looked thicker, stronger than the ones that made up the rest of the prison and… that was a telling sign that I might have unconsciously reached one of the objectives for this little raid.

Was the Love Crest kept there?

It would’ve been ironic that I had found them already despite my primary mission right now being to reconnect with the rest of the group. My mind mused about the matter as I started to make my way towards one of the ends of the corridor.

What led me to pick that end to the other was the… faint fragrance of flowers. The scent oddly phased through the sturdy-looking walls that made the whole section look like a super-bunker, and I knew that this was a telling sign that I was close.

Either that, or I had somehow found a large stash of ‘Agápi’.

The door wasn’t automatic, but rather locked through a simple reinforced lock. I frowned at the decision to switch from something electronic, but I guess they were just afraid of doing so with the chances of being influenced by the Love Crest.

My sword easily cut through it a moment after I had coated it with Fire Magic, destroying the mechanism and allowing me to pass on the other side.

I was presented with a large bedroom with two big libraries filled with books of various kinds. The pieces of furniture, and the bed looked rather simple and… feminine.

Looking around I also spotted a strange device beside the bed, and I froze in surprise when I realized what it was.

A cryo-pod… and it was empty.

I was confused by the sight of what I thought being that kind of machine, and I found my mind besieged by questions about the predicament.

Yet, despite the growing questions inside my head, my attention was taken elsewhere as my ears caught a suave and quiet sound.

A voice- a soft one that was singing quietly and without words. The melody drew me to make a few steps to the other door that led out of the bedroom, and I carefully peeked inside the open passage to the modest garden waiting in there.

The place looked to have been taken care of properly by the owner of the bedroom, with flowers of various kinds littering the fertile dirt that was prepared to take in all kinds of plants that the lone gardener was tending to with meticulous attention and dedication.

It was in that moment that I felt my heart skip a beat or two, finally sighting the beautiful being that was so kindly tending to the patch of land.

Wearing just a long white dress with no straps, the golden belt that wrapped around her upper waist kept the cloth from falling off from her lovely figure, while a tiara with a red heart rested on her forehead. Her fur was mostly a light-brown, with some tanned spots by her face and frontal torso. Her long red-hair reached below her waist, a few flowers quipping playfully between her locks. Two dark-grey horns sprouted from the sides of her head and tilted backward. And her pink eyes were aimed with a patient and eased gaze, depriving any hints of stress I had felt before that point.

Crouching down to one knee, the Gazelle Prime was humming while she carefully moved one of the flowers to occupy another piece of the soil. And I felt like a moron for being there, completely silent and mesmerized by that sight despite the fact people I cared for were risking their lives right now.

I mustered as much courage as I could before braving through that situation. I had a duty to uphold and… I couldn’t delay that any longer.

“Ah-hem.”

I faked a cough, and the noise got the girl to tense up at the sudden noise. She slowly roused from her previous position, and her head turned towards me. Her eyes widened in surprise as she finally got sight of me, and her pink orbs glinted in incredible curiosity that easily tapped in child-like wonder.

Instead of studying me from afar, the Prime tip-toed towards me, pausing just as her face was mere instants from reaching mine.

“Who are you?” The question was innocent and devoid of any restraint as I felt like I had been blessed with a real angel.

I blinked, my throat tightening at the fact I found my brain burning and melting at the nerve-wracking closeness.

_ Still… for Addie. _

“I’m Theo and… I’ve come to get you out of here.”

She blinked, surprise growing even more as she seemed as if she had realized something more from my words.

She tilted her head to the side, smiling widely at my words. “I’m Grace and…”

She leaned closer, pressing her forehead onto mine.

“Are you a prince, Theo?”

…

_** What? ** _

\----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d------------

**AN**

**The Love Crest is here! And… Carmie is about to face quite the trial. Something that no matter how it ends will leave a friendship in shambles.**


	10. Prison Break

**Chapter 8: Prison Break**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

** ~Carmesi’s POV~ **

This wasn’t going to end well.

The fact that the security system had activated so quickly and just in time to separate them from Theo was a blatant display for something unpleasant to occur soon.

The Warden and the General had decided to take a peek at the cameras to see how the ‘Doctor’ was handling this little trip, and now they were perfectly aware of their infiltration.

It had been a possibility mentioned by the human back before they went through with it, a stupidly improbable one considering how ‘careless’ high officers were on a normal basis.

At the same time, Carmesi was also irked by how easily they were pushed into a specific path, sending them further away from the different direction that the young man had been sent to, eventually shredding any chance of meeting again anytime soon.

With a scowl on her face, and her eyes gaining renewed focus at this aggravating trap they were led to, there was no surprise in her face when the Queen started to offer some suggestions to what they could do to solve this situation.

“We could try to break into one of the closed doors. You could try to melt their panels and we could get through to another path.”

A good idea, sadly one the Fox Prime knew wouldn’t work for a simple reason.

“The metal used for the wall is specially made to withstand high levels of cold and heat,” The Fire Crest rebuffed with a hint of irritation directed at the circumstances. “If I could, I would’ve already done that.”

“Then we could go for the vents-”

“If it was just one of us, it would’ve been for the best,” Carmesi agreed with a quick nod. “But I think they already took care of that one too.”

“You mean there could be someone already patrolling those?” The young royal inquired.

“Yes,” The Fox Prime replied curtly. “The only choice we have is to go into the trap and overwhelm them.”

…

“Can we-”

“Of course we can!” They needed to, or else they were going to be killed. It was do or die, and Carmesi wasn’t planning to die in an ice cube of a planet. “We just need to not lose focus. Theo will get there to offer support soon, so don’t despair, princess.”

The brief hint of teasing seemed to actually bring more annoyance and focus out of the fellow Prime, making the whole process easier to manage.

Her eyes scanned around for any Narakhans coming their way, but nothing seemed to suggest this. They had to be all waiting in a single spot, their forced destination.

_ Don’t lose it. This isn’t the first time you were ambushed like this. _

It was like back when she had to train her way to the top, to prove her superiority to those weaklings looking down on her. She didn’t lose back then, she wasn’t planning to lose now that it mattered way more than before.

Ultimately they arrived in a large room. A cafeteria… that was filled with numerous guards and soldiers that had formed small compact groups covering most of the exits.

The door they came from was blocked off by an energy barrier and… they were finally there.

“There are so many of them...”

Sparks exploded from Carmesi’s swords as she brushed their edges onto each other in a display of eagerness.

“I hope you’re ready, Addie. This is where we make a point... and get out of there.”

Unlike before, this comment got a minimal response from the young Queen. Just as they braced themselves for a tough battle, a holographic system was activated and in front of the large battalion.

A figure appeared, a tall Bull Prime with piercing red eyes and a strict posture.

“General,” The Fox greeted tensely.

“Traitor,” The former superior greeted blankly. “I see that you and your new overlord have finally reached the place of your demise.”

“You’re-”

“I’m General Minos of the Empire, Princess Adela,” The man introduced himself while addressing the Coyote Prime erroneously. “It’s a shame that your stay here was so sudden. I would’ve set things differently… less violent, to be more specific.”

_ They don’t know. They don’t know that Adela is the new Queen- but how does this help us in this situation? _

“ A pity that you’ve planned to lose all those men to try and hold us back,  _ General, _ ”  Carmesi rebuffed without restraint. “But I suppose your shortcomings are finally starting to catch up.”

“Like your little stunt is going to be the end of your existence… or maybe there is something we can do out of this unpleasant situation.”

The sudden twist within that rebuttal got a frown out of both women, yet their guards remained strong as they tried to discern what the high officer was talking about.

“Your tricks will not work on me. I know how you prefer to be a coward but-”

“Not a coward, a pragmatic individual. Someone that believes that suffering isn’t the best choice, and that there are ways to spare a needless waste of potential like yours.”

…He was kidding. He had to. There was no way he was meaning what he was saying.

Anger bubbled at the possibility, but before the Fox Prime had the time to accuse him of such a thing, the General spoke up again.

“You know, this could all be avoided,” Minos pointed out through the hologram. “As much as I detest to admit this, I know your worth, Carmesi. You’re among the best individuals in your generation… and those close to yours.”

… “What?”

Her confusion wasn’t subjective. Pretty much everyone in this room looked incredibly shocked by that offer, as it was absurd for the Empire to consider giving such a mercy to someone.

Even the warden looked like he had just heard the most insane thing possible.

“While it would be unheard of for a traitor to be given amnesty, I know that your status as the Fire Crest and decent Captain makes you worthy of such a gift,” He continued without hesitation. “The Emperor would accept it if it means sparing resources that could be better used elsewhere. In improving his subjects’ lives.”

“Fat chance, I’m not-”

“You’re afraid of becoming cattle once the war is over,” Minos added with a hint of curiosity, his eyes glinting a predatorial light as he noticed her tense up at that guess. “That once your main purpose is spent, you will be relegated to becoming a trophy wife for some important leader or officer, all for the sake of being kept loyal and all your descendants to be tied closely to the Empire.”

...How?

How did he-

A cold possibility filtered inside her brain. While she hadn’t discussed this to anyone, she researched some specific topics that could be used to make out such a suggestion.

And the Empire could check on everyone’s data in case they suspected rebellious activity.

Gritting her teeth, she felt furious at herself for having forgotten this.

“It’s a legitimate fear. Many women in situations similar to yours are afraid of what comes next to have a decent life within the Emperor’s merciful rule,” He admitted with a genuine voice. “But I believe we can make an agreement. Something that could protect you not only from this foolish mistake or yours, but also give you the chance to have a future you want.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That sounds like a lot.”

“Because I want something equally as important from you, Carmesi,” Minos replied with a nod. “I want you to forfeit your allegiance to the Royal Family of Prism, to swear an oath to never betray the Empire’s way ever again, and to surrender the current location of the ship holding Queen Rehema and the remnant of the rebels.”

…

“And you would-”

“Give you what you want, and restore your reputation to its peak while also removing any hints of what you’ve done in the recent weeks.”

That was a lot. That was an absurd offer that felt easily convenient to her on all fronts.

This. This literally solved every single problem she had been thinking about for the last months. Not only would that give her the chance to back away before the horrible odds stacked in front of her.

She was strong, there was no doubt, but she would’ve to go through that large wave with minimal support.

With Adela depending on her bow and arrow, it was simple to see how this could’ve ended up poorly for them, not even the usage of the Crest to her current limits would still fall too short of winning that predicament.

_ Would it be bad if she surrendered and accepted these terms? _

A capitulation like this was nigh-impossible to wrestle from most military leaders from the Empire, mostly because the Emperor demanded a full implementation of the ‘no mercy’ protocol regarding traitors.

There were just a couple of exceptions, and those had indeed managed to live through some of the worst situations to be put through. Mostly for their strategic importance, or because the Emperor himself was fond of them for a reason or another.

Right now Carmesi was given the chance to walk away from this scene with the legitimate promise of living beyond that day, and to be guaranteed a proper future if she accepted.

And even though part of her mind refused that something so sweet and enticing was an honest chip of bargain in that surrender attempt, she knew better to doubt Minos’ capacity to uphold public promises.

There were too many witnesses to deny this, and no amount of bribery and ‘removal’ would manage to limit the damage it would inflict to his reputation if he ended up known as a liar.

Many young officers aspired to become like him, and a blow to his image of these proportions would create a tremendous backlash across the Empire.

So, the Fox Prime contemplated the offer, ignoring the confused looks she was getting from the fellow Prime at being all quiet so suddenly.

Adela was… a friend. Or something like that.

It would be a lie to say that the Fire Crest knew how friends ‘happened’. Were people labeled as such when they were bearable and didn’t get on her nerves? Or maybe it was something more shallow and far from her to understand.

If she was to betray her new ‘cause’, things would only leave her sad and… she could feel it would feel awkward to think back to that time if she surrendered.

But according to the big picture, this loss was acceptable. Her future was on the line and if it meant having some sad thoughts from time to time for the sake of being spared from that situation… maybe it wasn’t that much of a terrible thought to make and consider.

As Carmesi slowly grew more interested by the proposal, something within her mind started to fight back against that desire. Something that called upon her stubbornness, her pride, and her sense of self-worth.

At first she wasn’t sure what was mustering this much attention out of her, but then she felt it again, this time almost searing her mind.

Like a flame.

Her Crest… was ‘speaking’ to her?

It wouldn’t be the first time she would get a ‘gut feeling’, but this was different than before.

No, it wasn’t her Crest. It was something a little more personal to her than she wanted it to be.

A call that she had ignored just for the sake of saving her hide now that the situation had gotten a little too unpleasant.

Something that she had already thought about, but hadn’t seen reason to see it applied to a practical scenario.

“ _** For a time… For a time I thought this to be just a dream,” Carmesi admitted quietly, her body ready to collapse after that brutal match with the still-smiling human. Not like she wasn’t smiling herself despite her own injuries. “To fight, to laugh and… to be there to do this with others.” ** _

“ _** You sound… like you wanted a friend,” Theo accused kindly, and his words brought a sense of resolve that had once lacked. ** _

While she couldn’t find a reason to fight for a friend like Adela… the Fox Prime had plenty of reasons to keep her word with the cheeky human.

Didn’t she swear that she was going to gamble her life for this chance at living better? To not accept anything less than victory?

Even if surrendering sounded like such a delicious choice to take, it wouldn’t be what she wanted.

The young woman wanted more, she wanted to win her future. The Crest of Fire didn’t need it to become a bargaining chip for the Empire to use against her.

Carmesi wasn’t going to stand for this!

“General… you’ve said some precious words with that offer of yours,” The Fox Prime admitted without restraint. “But I think you’re overstepping your boundaries in believing that you can give me something so bland and disappointing.”

The Bull Prime looked surprised at that comment.

“ Let me ask you this,  _ Earth.  _ Do you believe that Fire will ever accept anything short of absolute victory over its enemy? That it will stop for some bread scraps that you’re appraising as golden nuggets? Don’t make me laugh!”

…

Minos sighed.

“I suppose that’s a no,” He calmly addressed. “A pity, I expected some intelligence from you, but… I expected to be disheartened in such a manner. Truly a dismay and-”

His hologram wavered and the lights started to flicker before he had the chance to conclude that sentence.

“Warden, what is going on?”

The elder tried to understand the situation, but he was as clueless as he could be as he scrambled over his terminal.

“ _ A moment of your attention, _ ”  A voice calmly spoke through the audio system within the cameras around. Addie perked in recognition, while Carmesi grinned madly as she knew what was going on now that she heard this ‘notice’. “ _ The management of this Prison has recently been taken away from the horrible and greasy hold of the Empire and temporarily been handed to more competent administrators. As of now, the security system is compromised, same for the planetary shield… and anything that can stop prisoners from leaving the prison by the hangars, since all ships have been rendered accessible and without any password to use the main commands. _ ”

More people started to move in panic around the Warden’s office.

“ _ On an unrelated note, Carmie, that was a good speech. I dig it. _ ”

The Fox Prime’s smile faltered into a minor scowl at how the human addressed her in such a manner. Still, he wasn’t humiliating her beyond that.

“ _ All doors have now been unlocked, and the green lights that are now activated on the floor will lead you to the Hangar, we will see all there and- _ ”

“I don’t think you will leave this place,” Minos boomed in clear irritation. “I suppose you’re the strange being that was with the Princess and the traitor.”

“ _ ...I suppose I’m speaking with Captain Minos. _ ”

“It’s General.”

“ _ Apologies, Major, _ ”  Theo ‘corrected’ himself. “ _ With the stress of taking over the prison while also escorting this special prisoner out, I believe my mind has been quite… uninterested in giving you ‘proper’ respect. _ ”

Instead of growing angry at this disrespect, the Bull Prime’s attention was taken away by another detail.

“You- You found… Love?”

“ _ To be fair, I stumbled close to where Gracie was living and… she wanted to say something to you, Sergeant. _ ”

There were some minor noises before another voice quipped, this one belonging to a woman. A particularly angry one at that.

“ _ Y-you lied to me! _ ”

Minos tensed up, surprised and… afraid.

“Grace-”

“ _ You said that you were helping people with my blood. That you were curing illnesses… and now I discover you mostly used it to force the truth out of those that didn’t think like you, that wanted to live away from that- that tyrant’s rule! _ ”

“There was no other choice, the Emperor would’ve hurt more people if-”

“ _ There is always a choice, _ ”  Theo piped in with a serious tone. “ _ And I feel that you’re just grasping at straws just because you thought that the easy way was the right one. _ ”

“Y-you don’t have a say in the matter.”

“ _ He does! _ ”  The woman, ‘Gracie’, rebuffed. “ _ In fact, I believe Theo more than you. He showed me the truth, and he is actually helping those that want to do good. _ ”

“If you follow him, you will not be spared from the Emperor’s wrath!” The Bull Prime remarked fiercely.

…

“ _ T-Then I guess I’ll have to fight too. And this time, I will only seek the truth, Minos. _ ”

The conversation stopped as soon as the communication system was turned off… leaving the Earth Crest to try and salvage the situation by taking care of-

He paused, his eyes widened in dread as he noticed that the two women were no longer in their previous places. In fact, they were no longer close to that cafeteria.

A dark scowl formed in his face. “Why didn’t you stop them?”

“S-Sir, the security system was used to-” One of the officers mentioned, only to be interrupted by a furious glare from the General.

“Find them. I don’t care if there are going to be losses,” The high officer ordered. “The Love Crest can’t leave this facility.”

_** And while Carmesi and Adela raced to the Hangar, a certain human and his newest companion started to make their way to the same destination. ** _

\-------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-d----------------d-d-d-d----------

My finger moved away from the button that turned off the audio system of the cameras, with my attention moving to address the unhappy state Grace had turned to after dealing with the Bull Prime.

Her pink eyes hinted to the pain and sadness brought by the betrayal from the one she thought she could trust and rely on, and I felt a pang in my heart at seeing her in such a manner.

I thought back to when I first found her. She looked so clueless, so naive… so pure.

There was something about her appearance and her manners that just screamed to be hugged and other things one would usually do with someone as cute, gorgeous, and adorable as Grace.

The Gazelle Prime was sheltered away from what was happening during the war.

From what she could explain to me without derailing the story too much, she was allowed to grow to adulthood… and then ordered to make use of the machine I’ve seen by her bedroom for lengthy amounts of time, the one that I had correctly guessed at being a cryogenic pod.

This last detail confused me for a time as I couldn’t fathom why the Love Crest was forced to undergo years of hibernation… and then I realized from Grace’s remembrance of her early childhood that it was because…

Grace was the ‘original’ Love Crest. The one that came to be right after Prism was destroyed.

I wasn’t sure if her capture happened either shortly after the planet’s end, or if there was a time period where she was away from Imperial ownership.

It didn’t change the fact that the young woman, just barely aware of her powers and her existence, had to be told the truth one way or another.

After that brief conversation that ensued shortly after our respective introductions, it took me a while to convince her to follow me around. She didn’t trust me when I tried to explain to her how this was a prison, and not a ‘hospital’.

She was really taken by the lie that her presence here was to give a happier life to people that were sick beyond normal recovery, and that only her blood was the source of many miraculous medicines that saved hundreds of lives.

It was a good argument, one that took some hard evidence to crack and dismiss. What really saved me from dealing with a reluctant Crest was that near to her ‘room’ was a laboratory that was meant to work the first part of the process that turned her blood samples into the ‘Agápi’ Serum.

Paperwork still littered some of the desks within that room, and Grace was surprisingly capable of understanding much of the words used in the papers.

While her education was limited, some of the books sent to her to keep her satisfied used a form of grammar that was somewhat advanced despite those being mostly fairy tales books.

She denied what was written in there, mentioning that those were just some scientists’ suggestions that led to no truthful discovery.

Then she found more… and more. All documents in that room were filled with reports about the ‘Agápi’, and none mentioned the medical properties of her blood.

Facing so much evidence contradicting what she had been told for so long was enough to make her quiet, confused and… hurting.

She was quick to accept a hug, a long one at that. One of the few things that I quickly learned about the Love Crest was that she was incredibly touchy.

Not in the creepy or lewd manner. Rather, she liked to be close to people, to be at arms’ reach for an embrace or even just press on them to feel their warmth.

At first I ruled it as a symptom of having to deal with the cold of the cryogenic pod for most of her life, but I wasn’t completely sure I had enough knowledge to make that call. Which is why I decided that asking Archie about it once we were out of there was going to be a priority for me.

Once Grace had tanked the unpleasant truth while being offered sweetness in the form of some silent cuddling, she commented that she was ready to leave and that she wanted to know more about what has been happening during her years spent in this place.

I could feel some edge in her tone, a hint that the usually calm lake that represented her mood was now stirring up towards a stormy setting.

Still, I knew that we had to move and make it through either the second objective or reunite with the two other girls.

There were some guards between us and our next stop, and, before I had the chance to plan out how to take them down without drawing more attention, Grace decided to make use of her powers and… only then I realized why the Empire had been so reluctant to employ her service to a full combat stage.

If Light was improving one’s fortitude, and Fire was a general boost with Elemental Flames, then Love was something close to ‘mind control’.

Sure, it worked more on the fact that it manipulated one’s capacity to feel attraction either to the Crest or to someone else, and then used that Love to compel the targets to do their whims.

In Gracie’s case, the guards were suddenly pulled into a state of unconsciousness, with the Narakhans dropping tired and unable to fight off the immense wave of sleep that took them out of commission.

I was surprised. When I turned to comment about it, I saw how tired the young woman was.

With her powers never trained beyond this point, Grace was pretty much unable to do much with those. Instead, she relied on a basic understanding of fighting with a Bo Staff.

By all means, her only trump card was her ‘mind control’ skill in limited occasions. With that in mind, I decided to take the safest route available for us to take, and we soon arrived at the ‘Control Room’ about ten minutes later.

The place had just two engineers that were quick to subdue as I slammed the flat part of my sword on their head. With just enough strength not to kill while also giving us the time to start doing something about it.

One thing led to another and now we found ourselves starting to make our way towards the hangars.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” I inquired as we were both pacing through the empty hallways of the prison, following the green lights on the floor that were leading us to our exit points.

The Gazelle Prime looked distracted, barely taking notice of my query, but then she sighed and looked away.

“Maybe once this is all over. I… I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You’re… You’re not a burden if you don’t feel ready for a fight,” I lamented softly. “You’re just smart enough to understand your current limits.”

She nodded, but… she was still fairly distracted by that confrontation with Minos.

I wasn’t sure how close she was to him, but for her to react like this, it had to be hurting her a lot.

And considering that she was a ‘first’ generation Crest like the Bull Prime, I could see why both would see each other in a good light from the very beginning because of that point.

Our journey to reach the Hangar was an uneventful one. The loud noises of the prisoners rushing to get control of the various ships there was proof that my plan of ‘killing’ the prison was having success.

With most of the guards having been assigned to ‘handle’ both Carmie and Addie, it was easy for a jailbreak to happen and to be successful by me having temporary power over the control room.

The evacuation was well underway as we finally arrived inside the hangar, and I spotted two familiar figures standing by the entrance of an equally familiar ship.

“They are there,” I muttered, drawing Gracie’s attention out of her pondering. Her pink eyes locked onto the two other Primes, and she blinked in surprise.

“You said that… one of them is a queen?”

I nodded. “The one with the bow and arrow...”

Just as I said this, I also took notice of the large gash Carmesi had on her left leg. Something I don’t remember seeing when I sprung the counter-trap.

I spared a worried look, ignoring her attempt to appear strong and confident with her posture, yet her uneven composure as clear as a sunny day’s sky.

“Theo,” Addie greeted tensely. “I suppose she is-”

“I’m Grace… your highness,” Gracie humbly introduced herself, getting a brief frown from Adela at the formal tone to address her.

“W-We can discuss later. We need to go, now.”

I nodded in agreement, taking a moment to approach Carmie and… offer her a hand.

The Fox Prime stared at the extended palm with a frown.

“Fuck no-”

“We need to go,” I pressed, reaching out and forcefully helping her walk through the ship’s entrance. “And you need a check up at the med bay.

“It was a lucky hit from a sneaky coward. I’m fine-”

“Then you will be better than fine once you’re properly healed.”

Her growl was masked by the noise of the engines turning on as we all entered inside the ship, giving Archie the opportunity to finally take off.

_** And now… some ‘debriefing’. ** _

\-----------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-----------

**AN**

**Love Crest Get! Gracie officially joins the party… and Carmie is properly reconfirmed as a permanent member. Huzzah!**

  
  



	11. Small Steps

** Chapter 9: Small Steps **

** Beta-Reader: Ant0nius **

Stretching a little as I walked through one of the many corridors of the ship, I gave a quick glance behind me to find that the newest member of the crew was still having a hard time getting her awe under control. She was mesmerized by the nebulas and stars that were visible through the windows on the side.

I wasn’t too surprised by this behavior.

Since Grace had been forced to live most of her life inside that cold prison, with no real knowledge of how massive life really was, I actually expected her to want to know everything at once… only to get a headache or two in return if she wasn’t careful enough with how much info she tried to digest at once.

With Addie and Carmie going back to their respective rooms to rest until lunch, I decided to take it upon myself to give the Gazelle Prime a tour of the ship.

She was absolutely delighted to meet Archie… and the Spirit was particularly pleased to make acquaintances with the Love Crest as he suddenly found himself pulled in a tight hug by the woman for being such an ‘adorable little thing’.

With Grace still wearing her revealing clothes, it was a miracle the little guy didn’t faint at the unexpected close-up. Once she was done coddling the Nanozell Spirit, I spent a moment to address the new issue presented by our ‘fleet’.

While some of the prisoners that had escaped had bailed once we were far enough from the Imperial fleet, a surprising majority had lingered around for the sake of joining the rebellion once again.

A request for a meeting was issued by several of those ships, but Adela decided to schedule this reunion for the first hours of tomorrow, mentioning that everyone was tired and it would be best to sleep in and think about the next steps with a refreshed mind.

A common agreement was struck with the announcement of the delay, and Archie offered a planet that could be used to host the planned convention. With that solved, the day was pretty much left to rest, recover, and try to grasp at the normalcy before we were forced to handle the bureaucratic nightmare that waited just around the corner.

After making sure that Grace got a clear understanding of where the kitchen and the training room were and their main purposes, I decided to show her where the cabins were and I soon led her to the final destination of our tour around the ship.

“And this is your room,” I commented quietly as I stopped in front of one of the many empty bedrooms within the ship.

Grace regaled me with a surprised look, but soon her interest increased as I went through the pad, showing her how to open it, and then allowed her inside.

Pink eyes widened as they were bestowed with the impressive size of the room.

“This is all… mine?”

A strange emotion fleeted her lips. It was a mix of confusion, glee, and something I couldn’t recognize in that moment.

“Yep,” I muttered with a nod. “Of course, it’s still empty and can be filled with a few shelves of books, maybe a small area where you can try some gardening and-”

“W-Wait, this is… so much. This place is so big and...”

I held my hands up in an appealing manner, drawing her to a quiet pause as she looked around again and… nodded.

“Sorry-”

“There is no need to apologize,” I assured her with a kind smile on my face. “I was overwhelmed too when I first came by. This is… incredibly large. And sometimes I feel that I have yet to discover all that is needed to know myself.”

She giggled at my sheepish shrug, tilting her head to the side. “I suppose it’s not something as awkward as I thought it would be.”

“Oh, it’s awkward… just common with the others here,” I corrected quietly. “But still, if there is something you need to know, feel free to ask.”

After blinking just once, the Prime stared around and… her eyes stopped right at the door that led to the room’s bathroom.

“What’s that for? A cupboard?”

My smile widened a tiny bit, and soon I walked up to the door. “Oh no. That is the bathroom.”

Instead of nodding and accepting as I had expected, Grace froze and suddenly tensed up at the answer.

I paused, looking at her worryingly as that just felt a rather uneasy reaction to the normal room.

“Gracie, what’s wrong?”

A blink, then two.

“I… Can I ask what is inside that bathroom?”

“Well,” I slowly started to answer. “There is a bath, a sink, a cabinet with medicines, the toilet and the shower.”

Just as I mentioned that last appliance, the girl tensed up once again and I frowned at this.

“What’s this about showers?”

…

“I… before being cryo… that, I would be required to have a quick shower. The water was… cold.”

“Oh,” I muttered, understanding her current plight. “Well, the showers there have both cold and warm water which you can select through a simple knob.”

She didn’t look much relieved by my words, so I led her inside the bathroom and offered her a quick look from the inside.

I could tell from her renewed surprise that the Love Crest hadn’t expected it to be that able, and she almost gave me a funny look when she was given a better look of the shower.

“That is...”

“The shower,” I continued for her. “I guess from your confusion you expected something a little less… comfy-looking than that.”

Nodding at my suggestion, Grace gave it a quiet study before giving me another question.

“How does it… work?”

I carefully opened the glass door that led inside the cubicle, with the young woman keeping some distance just as a precaution as I educated her about the knobs.

“This one is used to regulate the heat of the water,” I explained with a calm voice. “As you can see, the red dot indicates the warmth, while turning it on the other side will get it to be cold.”

She nodded at this first part.

“Now, this is the knob that regulates how much water is flowing in the shower. Right now there is no water because the knob is turned to ‘zero’,” I continued quietly, carefully reaching for the small round object. “There is also one way to see if the water is warm without touching it. Do you remember how we could see each other’s breathing because it was too cold?”

A frown adorned her beautiful face, but Gracie allowed a slow nod as she recollected that very scene.

“Observe.”

Turning the water on, I allowed it to be warm enough to get the effect I wanted it to make. Drops of the liquid rained over the floor of the cubicle, and I waited for a while as vapor slowly started to emerge for the two of us to see.

“It’s… the same?”

“Something similar, yes,” I replied with a nod. “When something warmer than the present air is released, may it be a breath or water, the result is that the air tries to condense it and that makes both examples visible like that. In this case, this is vapor.”

Nodding at this new piece of information, the young woman seemed interested by the water now that I explained why this was warm.

A step, then two, I had to make way so that she could step inside without being pushed towards the stream and… Grace reached out with her right arm.

Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise as she was finally convinced that it was warm water. It took her a little while to properly take in the ‘revelation’, her stare fixed on her limb as she played with the droplets some more before backing away and… unconsciously pushing some of the water onto herself.

The Love Crest shivered, the liquid hitting her squarely on her upper dress and drenching it a little bit. I was already prepared with a towel, offering it to her as soon as she regained control of her thoughts.

After silently turning the knob to stop the water, thus learning how sensitive the round piece was, the girl stepped out of the cubicle and gave me an awkward look.

“I don’t think I can walk like this.”

I nodded. “I believe there are some clothes for the crew to wear. There should be a pair of clothes for women in the room.”

With that in mind, I led her back to the bedroom, and tried to find where the wardrobe was meant to be. While I knew where mine was, I discovered by seeing Carmesi going for another spot in her room to retrieve another spare of clothes that it was different in all rooms.

When I asked Archie for the reason behind the decision to have that feature, he merely answered that the creator of the ship wanted to create a ‘non-uniformed’ set of living quarters. Something that just wouldn’t be confused for a military ship, but as a ship that represented what was left of Prism.

Luckily enough for the two of us, I managed to find the compartment with folded clothes rather quickly, taking out a gray shirt, a pair of warm pants and some underwear.

As I walked back to the bed where the girl was waiting for her change, I saw her eyes locking onto the pile of cloth I was bringing to her. Curiosity turned into fascination as she silently studied each apparel, calmly getting an understanding of the different clothes… until it was the turn of the bra and the panties.

“That’s a shirt and a pair of pants but… what is the rest?”

After placing the pile beside her on the bed, I took a moment to realize what she was referring about.

Since that dress had been the only thing she had been wearing until that moment, it was clear to see why she wasn’t acquainted with underwear.

“Well, these two goes before the proper clothes,” I started to explain, holding down the slight nervousness born from the embarrassing topic. “The bra is put to cover your… chest. While the panties are for your lower body.”

…

“But why?”

My jaws almost dropped at that question. She was meaning it with her innocence, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for being this uneasy considering the unique circumstances of this awkward predicament.

“W-Well, differently from your dress, these clothes can be rather uncomfortable without undergarments,” I tried to explain with terms I knew she could understand. “And those are meant to avoid you feeling any discomfort while wearing these.”

“Discomfort? I don’t understand.”

_ Oh Lord… this is just a lot more awkward. _

“I… these clothes might create… friction. And a state of unpleasantness while walking around that could also result in hurting yourself,” I gave some more details. “Plus, the bras help you in case you feel any back pain or-”

“Wait, so these actually help with back pain, Theo?”

…

“Yes but-”

Grace didn’t need to be told twice, already removing the upper section of her dress to try and put on the bra.

I looked away, holding myself from pointing out that I should’ve waited outside before she had to do so… yet she moved particularly fast at the news of a problem that she was pretty aware about, if not tormented by a long time by it.

While I couldn’t exactly leave now without making it awkward for the girl, I could look away until she was busy with it.

I was so certain the Prime would’ve been more focused on putting on the bra to actually notice the fact I was staring elsewhere and… I was proved wrong when she spoke up again.

“I think I forgot to ask what’s for lunch,” The Love Crest pointed out. “I believe Archie mentioned that there was a menu about vegetables?”

“There is a menu for vegetarians and one for meat-lovers,” I answered curtly, trying to keep my eyes away for as much as possible without getting too suspicious. And soon enough, I was looking back at her… this time giving my best to look only at her face.

“I’ve never tried meat. I wouldn’t mind trying it… but how does it taste compared to fruits?”

“It’s… juicier,” I commented with a strong hint of nervousness. “Meat usually offers more proteins and… it’s more delicious.”

“I suppose I can try,” Grace said with a nod. “And I guess the others have already picked their own orders.”

“Yes.”

…

“I don’t want to press too much but… is there a reason why the Queen dislikes any formal way of addressing her? I can see that she isn’t happy about being called ‘highness’ or ‘majesty’,” The young woman muttered, changing topic.

“I think it’s because she is afraid that if we consider her above us, she will lose a good reason to hang around as our friend,” I replied the best I could about that big question. With that subject, I didn’t have any reason to falter over the current awkward situation, as my mind was more focused on Adela’s unique predicament than else. “If she is ‘her highness’ to us, then in her mind we will no longer be her peers.”

Pink eyes widened at that explanation. “That’s… that’s silly.”

“For someone that looks at this without knowing what happened to her, it might feel like that,” I partly agreed. “But Addie had to deal with losing her mother… and all those that were before us. Those that once were under the banner of Queen Rehema and now are gone.”

Something that was going to haunt her for a long time despite her best attempts to show a brave look everyday. I could tell that Grace wasn’t expecting to hear this bit as she deflated at my words.

“The Queen lost… her mother?”

“Recently, yes,” I replied with a nod. “I had the chance to meet her. I… I blame myself for not having been quick enough to get them both out of there. There was an attack from the Empire and… I ended up saving just Adela.”

“Surely you gave your best-”

“I was afraid and I was slow because of my cautious thinking at the time,” I interjected quietly. “I could’ve dared a little more. A gamble or two more so that I could’ve gained more seconds that could’ve saved her too.”

Before I could’ve added more thought to that, I felt my head pulled towards Grace, with the girl allowing it to rest on her chest.

“I… I don’t know how it happened, but I can feel that you were trying your hardest,” The Love Crest pointed out. “You care for Adela. You don’t want any harm to come her way… which is why you wish for the blame to be yours only to suffer. I will not try to lie to you and say you couldn’t have done more… but what is done is done.”

I closed my eyes, my mind wavering a little as the Gazelle Prime started to hum quietly.

“Now I wonder what kind of person she was.”

… “She was kind. And motherly,” I muttered with a sigh. “She would’ve loved you, maybe considered you a surrogate daughter after a while.”

“She sounds nice.”

I nodded. “She was.”

After that conversation came to an end, I decided to help Grace with the bra. The hook bit was a little difficult for her to grasp early on, but she seemed rather quick to understand when I helped her with that part.

She resumed her task of changing clothes shortly after, leaving her folded dress on the bed as I promised her Archie would’ve taken care of it once he was informed of this matter.

With that task completed, we then started to make our way to the kitchen, quickly finding that both Adela and Carmesi were already there waiting for us.

_** It was time for lunch. ** _

\------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----

Preparing lunch took a little longer than before. Now that there were four people to satisfy, I had to make sure to prepare things without lingering too long on certain steps. Of course, I didn’t rush through the process, knowing that burning the dishes wasn’t going to help me in that activity.

After about forty minutes of working around the stove and the other electric appliances, I had all the meals prepared for the group to start eating.

While the Fire Crest went ahead to devour the food on her plate and the Queen happily enjoyed her dish, Grace lingered some more to try out the stake I had prepared for her.

After cutting a small piece from it, the girl had her fork slowly approach her lips. Her lips parted just enough to allow the first bite in and… she started to slowly chew at it.

…

A surprised blink was only the start of her reaction. Once she was done with the first bite, the Love Crest prepared her second and third bite.

The chewing became faster in its pace, and I was surprised when she actually took up a pace akin to Carmesi regarding her meal. Not as fast as the fellow Crest, but enough to leave me impressed at her appetite.

Twenty minutes later, the young woman was asking if she could get some more, blushing and appearing embarrassing at the fact she was so hungry today.

It wasn’t that she was feeling ‘hungrier’ than usual. Knowing the way she had been confined, I knew the Gazelle Prime had been given some bland food that was meant to limit the pang of hunger while also limiting the need of much nourishment from the prison’s reserves.

In the end I prepared a smaller second take for her to digest.

“Why does she get seconds and we can’t?”

“Because you’ve eaten something proper for breakfast earlier this morning,” I calmly replied to Carmie, glancing at her annoyed expression. “And I don’t think you want to fight on this hill.”

“What if I want to do that?” The Fire Crest asked, trying to escalate the situation.

“Then I guess I can’t give you an important task today if you behave like a child,” I flatly remarked. “In fact, it would’ve been something that will give you more honor and-”

“I think I will back down now, but I want that task.”

I smiled. “I’m glad that you accepted so readily to help Grace start training with her Bo Staff.”

A nod left Carmesi, the woman looking away as if thinking about something… and then she tensed up in realization.

“Wait, that’s a trick-”

“You accepted that proposal without even asking details about it,” I pointed out, actually showing some concern at this circumstance. “I think you should really start losing that attitude of rushing at anything that garners your attention. You’re going to get a mean match if you don’t pay attention to this kind of stuff.”

The Fox Prime looked ready to protest, but then she stopped at the second half and frowned, her annoyance simmering down to something more subdued.

“I’m not that gullible,” She rebuked dryly. “And I’m not rushing to some stupid fights.”

I had my doubts that she was meaning it with both affirmations. So much that I knew that I needed to be prepared for anything bad happening to her during future battles from now on.

“If Carmesi doesn’t want, I don’t see why you should push her to-”

_ Oh no. Gracie, what are you doing? _

“Do you think I can back down now that I’m committed, Love?” The Fox Prime interrupted with a stern tone. “Do you believe I’m not capable of the task? That it would’ve been better if Theo had taken over this task?”

“No, I just-”

“I will train you. There is no room to debate about it,” The Fire Crest interrupted again. “I’ve decided that I will shape you to the best offered by your potential. Then you will thank me after the intense schedule I will put you through.”

“I hope that means you’re not going to rush with her since she is just starting training,” I recalled. “Or else I might make your schedule unbearable too. You know… teachers and students should share the same plight.”

Carmesi looked ready to make a question I was more than accustomed to hear from her mouth.

“And yes, I will do that. This isn’t a challenge, and you should be trifling with me about this topic.”

She kept her mouth shut at that ultimatum, sighing as she turned back to the nervous-looking Gazelle Prime.

“Okay, I will make this simple. Today, I will see what you can do. Consider it a test to see what kind of schedule you will start with,” The former captain said, changing tone to something more level headed much to the whole group’s surprise. “This means you will also have a couple of exercises you will have to go through during the morning and before going to bed. Nothing too straining or difficult early on, but enough to get you to make progress quickly and properly.”

Grace eased up a little bit at that change of intensity, seemingly appreciating the lack of the previous pressure exerted by the Fox Prime.

But just as this conversation came to an end, our attention was taken away by a distant relieved sigh.

“I’m glad to see that you’re working your differences properly and without requiring further assistance,” A familiar voice commented, drawing our eyes on the frame of a certain messenger.

“Apogeo?” Addie addressed with a surprised tone. “We weren’t expecting you to… drop by so suddenly.”

“It’s been a while,” I added with a nod, my attention turning to the two Crests as they regarded the Heart of Prism with frowns. I realized just in that moment that they didn’t know who she was. “This is Apogeo. She was tied to Prism before it was destroyed, and now she is our connection to the… Gods.”

“That is mostly correct,” The elder spirit addressed. “I would say that I’m a little more than that, but I guess the description you’ve just offered can be considered a sufficient one for now.”

“So you are a...”

“A spirit. The original one to be more precise,” The heavenly being explained with a nod. “I was the representation of your ancestors’ culture, their will, and their collective soul.”

“I… I don’t understand what you’re referring about… Gods?”

“The Dragon Gods are the deities that protected Prism before the Empire attacked. They are the patrons of Primes and the creators of the keys to their Divine Realm. The ones that are now known as the Crests.”

“Yes, and the ones that bailed our homeworld when the Emperor struck,” Carmesi dryly remarked, her expression giving off some annoyance on the topic. “While the Empire sprouts a lot of different tales about the origins of this war, one thing remains the same. The Gods ditched us.”

“That is a crude assessment. It lacks a context that the Emperor was behind the death of two major Dragon Gods before the grand journey,” Apogeo calmly chided. “Those were dark times that the Gods were unprepared for, and instead of dying without meaning, they decided to elaborate a plan to bring an end to the tyranny of the Emperor.”

“The Crests,” Adela continued from that point. “If they are reunited in a single location, their combined powers should be enough to vanquish him forever.”

“I mean, that is our current plan, right?” The Fox Prime asked quietly. “We all gather the rest of us, and then we just… do something. Actually, what are we supposed to do once we’re reunited with the other Crests?”

Apogeo blinked. “You will understand in due time.”

This deflection got a frown out of me. “That sounds… quite dismissive.”

“As much as I wish to help this cause of good, I myself am unaware of the grand scheme ordained by the Dragon Gods,” The spirit admitted. “But I know for sure that it will work, and that it will all become clear once the Gathering is completed.”

…

“I think it’s my time to go. I’ve overstayed my visit and-”

“Would you like some coffee?” I asked before she had the chance to leave with that quick attempt. “I mean, you came here just for this message, but I don’t see the harm if we offer you something.”

The spirit looked perplexed at first, looking ready to politely decline that offer… but actually ending up nodding at my proposal.

“I could stay a little more. But I will take a cup of water instead of coffee.”

Nodding at her request, I walked up to the fridge to pick some cool water. Once I was back to the table with the simple beverage, I waited for the heavenly being to sip quietly at the liquid.

“It’s been a while since I was allowed the mercy of courtesy,” Apogeo confessed. “I’m quite happy that you’ve taken on your new duty… ‘Theo’.”

I spared a frown at that little delay at using my nickname, but I guess the spirit was trying to point out how she was going to play along with Addie’s idea despite my own reluctance about it.

“I’m still working some of the kinks but… I think I got most of it done?”

She offered a brief giggle. “I believe you’re doing a fine job.”

“And I can vouch for that,” Adela agreed with a nod. “I don’t think I could’ve expected a better knight.”

There was something in that latter bit that got me smiling, even though I felt that it was an exaggeration. But why would the Coyote Prime add this one up like that?

I wasn’t going to get an answer about it but then I felt a sliver of curiosity building up as I realized something that was missing. Or rather… someone.

“I would’ve thought that Archie would’ve rushed to greet you, Apogeo.”

The lady blinked, with her smile widening at my confused look. “I believe he already did. It’s just that… he was rather careful in keeping quiet.”

‘What?’

Just as she said those words, I saw a head slowly climb up to her left shoulder. Archie hummed, looking a little awkward at being called out in this manner and… I felt even more confused as I tried to make sense to it.

“Were you hanging behind her the whole time?”

“...Maybe.”

“Archie, that sounds… disrespectful.”

“It’s alright,” Apogeo conceded. “It’s only natural for him to be endeared by the presence of his creator.”

The smaller spirit nodded in agreement. “Why wouldn’t I want to come and say hi to my own mom?”

“It’s creator,” The woman corrected.

“Yes, creator, mom. To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

I had some trouble holding back a chuckle at that. I was surprised that Archie considered the older spirit to be his mother… but then again, he was created by her. He was her creation… thus her son.

It wasn’t that unbelievable to make that connection work in my mind, and so I kept quiet as the conversation continued for a little longer.

“I believe that doesn’t apply to it.”

“But why not? You created me, which means I’m your son.”

“You weren’t birthed the same way other children are.”

At that sentence, I felt a shiver go down my spine as Grace turned to me with a quizzical look.

_...Oh right, she doesn’t know where babies come from… _

That was going to be a tough day to live through for sure.

Still, knowing how this conversation was starting to escalate towards some awkward ramifications, I decided to put a closure to it.

“Are you two really going to bicker over… semantics?”

My question was regarded by a mixture of surprise and brief annoyance from the heavenly being. That mere scene was enough to draw a snort from Carmie and smiles from both Addie and Grace.

“...I suppose that role could also be synonymous with creator. It just feels… less formal,” Apogeo explained. “But I could just accept it if it gets people to start… teasing.”

“Apologies-”

“It’s alright, Theo. I’m sure you mean well and that this teasing is done in a good-hearted manner,” The woman interrupted politely. “And I believe it’s time for me to leave, lest the Emperor detects my presence here. I bid you all a fortuitous journey, and I hope to see you all well the next time I visit.”

We gave her some quick farewells before the spirit ended up leaving for good.

Just as I thought things were now going to go back to normal, I found out that something did linger from that visit. Something that became the origin of the inner chaos in the crew.

“Theo, I don’t think I’ve read about it so… where do babies come from?” Grace asked with an innocent tone, her query urging all action to focus onto my frame.

_** Yep, this is going to be a rough day alright… ** _

\------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-------------

** AN **

** ...Wry. **


	12. Interlude 3

**Interlude 3**

Grace happily hummed as she continued to quietly read one of the many new books now surrounding her lying form.

Enjoying the softness of her bed, the Gazelle Prime eagerly exploited the little time left before dinner to enjoy some relaxation after her first training session. Just as Theo had informed her, the first day was tough, but not too much in her humble opinion. Draining as they were within the few sets, the exercises she had to go through were not entirely complicated to properly complete.

The human had brought up a couple of points that she needed to work on.

Her stamina needed some improvement, and that could be fixed by running a couple of laps around the gym room twice every session. Since Grace was already nimble, her speed just needed to have the ‘fuel’ to become a better advantage for her to make use of.

The Love Crest wasn’t a heavy hitter, especially with how limited her capacity to damage her opponent was due her lack of strength. It didn’t help that her staff was unable to deliver its best attack potential because of this issue.

For now, this was her priority. She needed to put good effort into each session and make sure to find a balance between going hard with the troublesome tasks and accepting pauses in between sessions to not strain her body too much. Adela was the one that explained to her how going too far and too fast with her exercises meant doing more harm than good, the young Queen bringing up Carmesi as a good example of going overboard with training.

The Fox Prime didn’t seem to like that kind of comment, frowning but not glaring at their leader. Grace wasn’t exactly sure if it was because the fellow Crest was too distracted by her own training or because the royal did have a point with her stories regarding the fiery young woman, but one thing was sure in her mind. Training wouldn’t be a quick way to reach her goal as quickly as she would’ve initially wanted.

That was something that had annoyed her at first, but then Grace found a good reason to keep going as she started to feel the strain. Theo was there and inciting her as he too was working through his training routine. He wasn’t a Prime and, like he had mentioned in his explanation of what ‘humans’ were, he was putting more strain on his body by training so intensely. It was only due to magic being a factor that prevented him from being exhausted by fatigue and tiredness.

When asked why he would put himself through such a difficult situation that could damage his body, the young man smiled and shrugged.

“ _**I’m Addie’s knight. I’m meant to be ready to be there to fight for her and the others. You included, Gracie.”** _

That little speech spurned the Gazelle Prime to go beyond what her aching body would’ve wanted her to do. To stop for a moment, to rest, to see and watch while the others continued with their activities. The mere thought of giving up this early on was almost infuriating. She felt a hint of shame, but soon that transformed into determination to get through that first session with a fierce attitude and a stubborn interest to keep pushing until the very end.

Tired and particularly exhausted once she was done with the session, the post-training shower was where her true peak of the day happened. Having yet to grow accustomed with the fact that these showers weren’t just cold, her body almost felt like it was melting as she entered inside the cubicle without a dress on.

Sweat forcefully washed off her body, she hummed happily as the pleasant stream of water did its job in cleansing any impurities in her fur. She then made use of the soap to further aid in the cleaning process, only at that point she realized that she didn’t have a time limit in which she had to leave the cubicle.

Yes, she couldn’t exactly remain in that shower forever, but she wasn’t forced to leave it after a few minutes, whenever she had gone through all bits of the procedure or now. For the first time in her entire life, Grace loved all the aspects of taking a quiet and pleasantly-paced shower.

It was bliss, it was enlightening. It reminded her that no longer did she need to worry about being controlled and pushed around against her will. Right here, right now… the young woman was given the chance of being her own person and doing whatever she wanted. All in exchange for having to prepare to fight for this new freedom of hers against the master of those the Love Crest was now running away from.

Friends, family- these concepts that once were restrained within the ink of books she had grown to immortalize as a child and a teen were now materializing as a certainty in her new life. Had she reached her happiest point? Not… yet.

It was tough to really accept this as truth. In her mind, it just felt like this much generosity had to have a catch. It had to. And yet, no real price had unveiled itself for her to either pay or dismiss as proof that this was all a beautiful dream that was too good to be true.

Sighing quietly, Grace turned another page. This book about this young girl, Alice, was truly a curious tale to read. It was so different from the many tales she had the chance to read about and it reminded her so much of how beautiful her imagination had been as a child. Things were easier to hide away in child-like creativity and wonder. Now, it was too difficult to try and cover the unpleasantness of her former captors.

Instead, her mind happily accepted the novelty of her current predicament as she wondered if this was the promised wonderland that she had craved for so long. And as the Love Crest pondered this very possibility, someone decided to knock at her room’s door.

The Gazelle Prime blinked. “Yes? Who is it?”

“ _ It’s Theo. _ ”

Her eyes widened, and a bright smile appeared on her face as she put her book aside and stood up.

“ Come in,” She happily said, wondering what the human was doing at this hour.

The door opened and the young man stepped inside with a sigh. “Gracie, dinner is almost ready and-”

He paused, his eyes widening in surprise as he got a full view of her. He stared her up and down, his cheeks burning a curious crimson before awkwardly resuming with his words.

“ A-Aren’t you feeling… cold, Gracie?”

She blinked. “Cold?”

As soon as she said this, her mind finally brought to her attention that, since her room’s temperature had been increased by her own volition, she had decided to rest by the bed without any clothes on.

“ Oh, I just didn’t feel like wearing anything right now. I will come to the dining room soon.”

“ With your clothes on, please,” The young man pressed and the girl nodded, now gazing at him with a hint of confusion.

“ Of course. Why?”

…

“ N-Nothing,” He replied after a couple of moments. “S-See you soon then.”

As Grace nodded at the retreating form of the human, she took a moment to try and understand why he had reacted like this when she wasn’t wearing her dress. Surely there was nothing wrong in being freed from silky restraints from time to time, so in her mind, that behavior felt incredibly bizarre. It wasn’t like she was doing anything even remotely close to the ‘talk’ he had given to her.

They were just friends. Very good friends that the Love Crest couldn’t help but feel rather tenderly about, with her chest pleasantly burning and butterflies fluttering in her stomach every time he gave her one of his confident smiles. The girl blinked again, this time a curious thought making her wonder about a very interesting possibility that could explain that interesting behavior of his.

_ What if... he likes it when I’m like this, but is too shy to ask me to be like this? _

...Maybe.

This thought continued to play in her head for a while longer, and shortly after, as she started to put on her clothes, Grace decided that this warranted some experimenting to check if this was the truth or a mere misconception.

_**Didn’t Addie mention shared showers?** _

\-------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d------

**AN**

**What are the chances of the Avatar of Love to be this dense and adorable this early on? XD**

  
  



	13. Right and Duty

**Chapter 10: Right and Duty**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

It took a couple of tense hours to finally find a planet good enough to set up a temporary base on.

The task proved to be taxing considering a big problem behind the logistics, in this case, the fact we had to find a decent place to hold the planned meeting between Addie and the ‘leaders’ of the prisoners that had joined our cause.

Despite my trust in the Primes that wanted to fight with us, I held some concerns over another section of the ships that I hadn’t taken under consideration during the first round of calls with the prisoners.. While the men we had spoken with seemed genuine with their interest to join the royal banner, the idea that some Narakhans wanted to pledge their support to Adela felt rather… odd.

Until that point, I hadn’t considered the odds of finding any rebellious member of the Empire that weren’t Primes. People like Carmesi were who I expected to be unwilling to completely submit to the imperial rule since the Empire itself didn’t care much for the Primes.

Some would manage to be promoted in the military, by showing great dedication for the Emperor, but the rest was either put in prison, or turned into a mix between slaves and serfs. Lifelong servants that, albeit held some rights that protected them in the long run, couldn’t do anything beyond that.

But Narakhans? The mere concept of this happening was enough to cause a new debate with the ship’s occupants. Carmie complained how it wasn’t possible for Narakhans to fully break free from the Emperor’s influence, mentioning how their marks were abstract chains that kept them tied to the Empire, one way or another.

Adela confirmed this idea to be true by bringing up the fight I had with her mother’s knight. The man had been corrupted during one of his last battles, leaving him susceptible to the Emperor’s manipulation, becoming a sleep agent to use against the Royal family. It took me a moment to nod at that explanation as I slowly came to realize that, by this very logic-

“I fought the Emperor?”

The Coyote Prime sighed, barely holding an amused smirk about it. “Would it kill your giddiness if I told you no?”

I frowned at her cheeky comment, but Carmesi was the one that replied in the queen’s stead.

“The Emperor might have controlled him, but you fought a puppet in his hold, not the real monster,” The Fox Prime muttered, her eyes glinting in anger even now. “Still, it’s not something to scoff at. Roland was an excellent swordsman, and with the Emperor taking over his body… he wasn’t an enemy that could easily be beaten.”

“Yet… I beat him with Archie,” I commented with a grin. “I don’t think I would’ve defeated him without his help.”

“And bombs,” Adela teased with a smug smile. “You were barely holding him off when you only fought him with a sword.”

I huffed, crossing my arms by my chest. “It’s not my fault the sword was cheap and of poor-quality. I figured it would break from the moment I noticed how unbalanced it was.”

“And yet you still decided to fight with it?” Gracie quietly pointed out, her pink eyes exuding some mirthfulness as she joined the little teasing session on me. “Why didn’t you… pick another sword, maybe from one of the fallen enemies?”

…

…

“You didn’t think about that, didn’t you?” Carmie pressed on with an infuriating grin. “Ah, our strategist does have his moronic moments-”

“T-That’s- I was thinking of running away to check on-”

“Did you or did you not consider picking a different weapon from any of the enemies you’ve fought during that situation?” Adela interjected calmly. “I think we all understand you were under pressure, but I actually want to know now.”

…

“No, I was too… distracted.”

She nodded. “You know, I’m glad that you care more for people than weapons compared to...”

The girl briefly glanced at the Fire Crest.

“A certain someone~.”

The Fox Prime scoffed at the indirect, blatant tease.

“You couldn’t be any more wrong, _your highness_ ,” The fellow woman rebuked. “I value my opponents’ worth more than their blades.”

“And maybe their abs too,” Gracie added innocently.

“And their abs-” Carmie paused, narrowing her eyes at the calmness on the Gazelle Prime’s face. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” The Love Crest said with a giggle, seemingly failing to grasp the undertone of that response.

The conversation shifted back to the problem at hand. While in normal circumstances the first thing to do would’ve been to contain and check the Narakhans’ loyalty, the truth was that the leaders of the other ships had provided a summarized list of crimes committed by the people to be sent to that prison.

High Treason.

Despite the idyllic vision the Emperor tried to impose on his subjects, many still refused to accept the viciousness of the corruption, lamenting how it polluted their minds to accept Chaos as their driving force.

Chaos was a force like any other Elements first and foremost, and while it was supposedly the main tool used by our enemies, it was also true that it technically was the same as Love, Fire, Light, or even Death. It was the user that truly determined its usage, and in this case the Emperor managed to gain complete control over it by taking over most of the Narakhans’ minds.

In these specific circumstances, the prisoners actively fought the Emperor’s influence to keep themselves from acting against their current allies, but, just like Carmie had mentioned more than once, the influence couldn’t be beaten back easily. It was a permanent mark that, by all means, couldn’t be removed and it would haunt these individuals to their death.

A grim look from an outsider’s perspective, and one that reminded me that our enemies fought with manipulation rather than by possessing true loyalty in their armies. I could only wonder in morbid curiosity how things would’ve developed if the Empire had managed to create the proper compound to use to fully mind-control everyone through Grace’s blood.

“We shall still give them a chance,” Adela commented with a serious tone. “While I understand your worries, Carmie… I believe we should still give it a try.”

“It will only come back to bite us in the ass later on if we allow them to stay with us,” The Fox Prime shot back with a fierce voice. “Sure, I don’t like it to have to ditch manpower- but these people are beyond redemption. Their souls are already sold to the worst being in the Galaxy.”

“But… have any Crest done something about it yet?” Gracie pointed out. “I mean, surely someone had tried to-”

“It could work if we had Light on our side,” Carmesi interrupted with a nod. “I don’t recall anyone ever mentioning a Crest doing anything about this, but I believe Light is the best bet on that kind of stuff since it’s the best counter to Chaos itself. Still, we don’t have them on our side.”

“Yet,” I added without hesitation. “But surely we can come up with a solution. There has to be a way.”

“I thought you didn’t feel confident about giving them a chance,” The Fire Crest commented with a surprised tone.

“I still am. But… the more I consider the situation, the more I realize that if we leave them to their own devices, we would be no better than the Emperor,” I elaborated my change of mind. “I can’t say we can find a solution about their plight while still accepting them, and while I understand the need to be cautious about who we take in, I… I really don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

I couldn’t afford to do that, not with how things have changed and… now I was sure I could do my best to at least try to save those troubled souls that were asking for a chance they were never given before that point. As much as their people might have caused so much pain, I wasn’t going to label them as overall evil individuals until I had the chance of meeting them and judging them on an individual level.

…

“I agree with Theo,” Adela finally replied. “As much as caution is needed, I can’t just look away from those that could become my subjects once this is all over. When the Empire falls, it would be foolish to imagine all Narakhans will just… go away. Some will want to leave in peace with Primes, and we can’t just turn our back on them. I will do my best to give them reprieve.”

“It will… this will not end well,” Carmesi lamented with a surprisingly weak tone. “I’m not the one that usually gives up on people but… this is a tough topic.”

I was confused by her uneasy attitude about it. Sure, I knew she was against this but… maybe she wasn’t wholeheartedly opposed to it. Deciding to keep them in our fold will surely result in some complications but… we still had to try.

“Ruling is all about making the difficult calls. Mom used to say this,” The Coyote Prime muttered quietly. “I think I’m still far from being as wise as she was, but I know that we still have to give it a try. It’s a duty towards my subjects to be fair and righteous about their needs.”

“I will not say that isn’t the thing but… I’m not sure this is the correct way.”

“But can we manage it? Do you believe it’s doable with proper attention?” Gracie inquired with a fascinated voice while looking at Carmesi.

The Fox Prime tensed up, spending some more time pondering about the big topic before offering a solid response.

…

“Maybe.”

I sighed, knowing that I could count on the Fox Prime’s reluctant support on this matter. Still, with everyone leaning on trying to handle the Narakhans instead of ditching them for the Empire to execute them. There was no way they were going to be spared after that prison break and for trying to join us.

We had to find a solution to this issue, it was all about proving once and for all that the Royal Cause was a real alternative to the Empire instead of a rebellious group meant only for Primes. It was a banner of hope for those that didn’t want to be subjugated by the Emperor and his cruel hold over his fief.

The discussion went on for a while , with the recurring element being that the easiest way to deal with this issue being having the Light Crest with us. Someone that wasn’t within our chances of reaching in just a few hours, leaving us to once more brainstorm how we were meant to deal with this problem.

The exchange dragged on until it was time for the ship to land at the announced zone together with the rest of the small fleet. I was tense as I helped around where needed to make sure everyone was ready for the event and I had to keep my emotions in check as I prepared for it myself.

There was never enough preparation for an event of this kind. Movies failed to describe it, though not some books and comics. It felt bizarre to be suddenly part of a greater state of things instead of the usual mundane lifestyle I was normally accustomed to.

A fresh adventure where I’m part of the forces of good and I had to fight evil? It was straightforward, and while it was tough to get up to pace with the rest of the warriors, it still offered me plenty of time to grow accustomed to the ‘small’ burden.

But to be among the leaders of a full-fledged rebellion that was much larger than merely a dozen people? Things felt more serious. It was no longer about me keeping an eye out for the few I knew and cared for. Now it was about succeeding in a real war with the few numbers we currently possess.

Adela would be the leader, and while young and slightly inexperienced in leading a force this large, she seemed to know how to handle this. She knew when to ask for advice, but even with that, I still worried that things would still be tough on everyone. I braced for the change of pace, as I knew things were going to be different.

_**And not by a little bit as the other members of the ship’s crew believed.** _

\------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-

The landing, thankfully, was particularly smooth.

I would’ve expected Archie to have some trouble in ‘parking’ the ship since the pre-meeting’s assignments were going to need a lot of space between the ships and the area that was meant to host the whole event. It had to be done quickly, and in a way that once done, everyone could’ve left swiftly and without wasting too many hours on it before resuming our journey.

Setting up a perimeter, we soon prepared a big tent with the help of Archie. The spirit managed to employ electrified gates all around the area to hopefully keep native creatures from interrupting the meeting while also using some of the ship’s drones to aid with the tent situation.

Two hours later, the only tasks left to do were setting up tables, food, and the documents for the event. Archie prepared the right table for us to take and soon we were sitting in our seats, with the Spirit deciding to float near Addie while we waited for the beginning of the reunion.

We were ready to begin now that everything had been set up correctly, and gave the signal for the other ships to release their occupants to fill up the location. There were way more people than I had originally expected, leaving me concerned about what would happen if things went south for one reason or another.

Still, I tried keeping my composure as everyone took their seats. Some preferred to stay standing as they tried the available food, swiftly taking a liking with it based on the way they almost started a riot due to the delicious dishes presented there.

Four leaders had rallied to sit on the opposite side of the table, with one of them being the elder leading the ‘small’ group of Narakhans. It took them a moment for them all to be settled, and soon the meeting began.

“I wish to thank you for having accepted my invitation. I understand the grave situation and that we can’t stay for long to attempt to unravel problems and talk about solutions for our current situation,” Adela started to say, her voice taking a regal and formal tone as she tried to show decorum worthy of a ruler. “I’m Queen Adela of Prism. May I know your names, loyal children of the lost homeland?”

_This is so… formal. So unlike how Addie usually speaks._

The five nodded, and the first one to speak was an old looking Lion Prime with gray hair and tan fur. He had some muscles that could be seen through his clothes, and a few scars visible on his exposed arms as his shirt didn’t possess any sleeves.

“My name is Muraty, and I once served as a General under Queen Rehema. I’m glad that you’ve succeeded to the throne and are doing well, your highness.”

Adela nodded slowly, clearly surprised by that detail but still keeping herself calm as she turned to the next individual.

“Your Highness, I’m Alwin,” The Hawk Prime muttered with a cordial voice, sounding quite polite and appearing rather supportive with his introduction. I was surprised that there were Primes that had bird-like features, but I didn’t let the surprise show outwardly. He had a silver beak, shoulder-length gray hair and black feathers. His body was much slimmer compared to the previous leader. “While I may have not served directly under your mother, I was the leader of a group of informants that tried to relay as much news from the Empire to her before we ended up being captured.”

“I believe I’ve heard of your group’s efforts,” The young woman mentioned with a nod. “I’m sorry to hear that your actions led to your incarceration.”

“None of that, your highness,” Alwin rebuked the apology. “We took an oath on our duty. We knew the risks, and we accepted the imprisonment as further proof that our actions were natural.”

Nodding once again, Addie turned to the third Prime leader and the fellow woman smiled kindly at the monarch. A Polar Bear Prime with dark-blue eyes and short silver hair, she was a bit on the curvaceous side, but far from plump, considering the limited amount of food given to the prisoners before the jail break.

“I’m Anneli, and I was an underground activist that worked for a group independent to the royal cause,” She explained with a calm voice. “But now, I’m willing to pledge my group’s support to your highness.”

…

“Why?”

Anneli blinked. “I… I don’t understand?”

“You said you weren’t tied to my mother’s faction. May I ask what made you change your mind and ask to join us now?”

“I suppose it was due to the time spent in prison, your majesty,” The woman slowly admitted. “To be fair, I’m still not sure that doing this is the right thing since your group is the far more hunted compared to other rebellious cells… but since we have all left a maximum grade jail, it’ would only be a matter of time before the Emperor labeled us all as criminals to be killed on sight.”

“So it’s convenient?”

“And the fact we share the same objectives and enemies.”

… “What about after the Emperor is defeated?”

The older Prime almost ‘corrected’ Adela on the certainty of the dangerous threat’s demise, but she stopped to avoid souring the event so quickly. Instead, she gave a more truthful answer.

“We will continue to support your highness, but only if your highness continues to champion the very ideals she sports right now. We will not change one tyrant for another.”

“I will be the ruler of everyone and for everyone.”

That seemed to convince the last Prime leader for now, leaving only a single individual that had yet to speak up. The old Narakhan was currently staring at me, and glared with his glowing red eyes.

I could feel some form of pressure being exerted onto me, but I managed to oppose this sudden development by flushing some Light magic through my body. The result was the opposing leader’s scowl widening in response to my resistance.

“ _**You foolish human,** _” The voice was familiar, and I felt dread expanding as I realized who it was.

“So you’re the big guy himself,” I grimly stated, and as soon as I said this the rest of the table stood up and moved away from the possessed individual. The rest of the Narakhans tensed up, but looked more fearful than else as their leader had been taken over by the Emperor.

“ _**You shall pay for your continuous effort in undermining my rightful claim over everything-** _”

“I believe I will not. In fact, you...” I paused, feeling my anger bubbling at the fact the one behind Rehema’s death was now once again in front of me. “ _You deserve nothing!_ ”

Before anything could proceed beyond that furious proclamation, the Narakhan suddenly tensed up and started shivering as he seemed to be fighting off the influence he was being subjected to. Trembling, the rest of the table was confused at the sight, but I still decided to move and attempt to subdue the man.

I swiftly walked around, reaching for the guy’s arms as I tried to restrain his actions… but as I did so, I started feeling drained. At the same time, the Narakhan’s shivering ceased as he slumped against me. I managed to hold him from falling on the floor, and soon I helped him back to his chair as I tried to understand what had just happened.

One moment he was fighting and now he looked like he was spared from the struggle against the Emperor altogether. Despite this outcome, the event continued and the rest of the conversation proceeded rather tensely, with everyone stealing looks to the unconscious elder as two of his fellow Narakhans approached to check on him while we were busy talking.

I was still surprised at being drained so suddenly, but decided against mentioning it as I quickly found myself handling another difficult question from the other leaders.

“Human. The Emperor seemed to consider you this… I guess that’s the name of your race, Theo, am I right?” Alwin asked with a fascinated tone.

“Yes, that would be the case.”

“You’re the Queen’s Grand Knight, young Theo. A position not many have heard of for a long time, and that it was long thought to have been a myth,” Muraty added with even more intrigue dripping off his voice.

“A legendary role. Expectations will be high considering the circumstances,” Anneli pressed on with a sigh. “Then again, you were part of the group that planned the massive jail break that saw all of us freed from the imperial yoke.”

I nodded, unsure how I was supposed to face this latter bit of the subject. Thankfully for me, someone decided to intervene and spare me from the full-fledged onslaught of questions.

“How about Crests? I’ve heard those were rarer than that,” Carmie finally spoke up, drawing the attention of the three leaders on herself and… Grace.

“The Fire Crest and the Love Crest,” Alwin muttered with a serious look. “While it’s far from the full set, it is the beginning of it and… this adds more legitimacy to your claim to the royal cause, your highness.”

“Many of your ancestors have come close to having three Crests during their reign, but with their deaths, the old ties unfastened and left the cause with only the mission to find them while having none with them.”

“I plan to complete the Gathering. Once all Crests have l be reunited, the final battle to defeat the Emperor shall begin,” Adela confirmed with a nod. “I trust both Carmesi and Grace in being prepared by the time this happens.”

Both Primes nodded silently at these words, and soon the conversation shifted elsewhere as a certain Polar Bear Prime decided to inquire about another pressing matter about the current state of things. Something that had to do with a certain sleeping individual.

“Apologies if this sounds too sudden, your highness, but may I ask what your opinion of… Narakhans is?”

…

“If they ask to join my cause and are genuine with their pledge, then I shall consider them my subjects.

“So the Queen is still willing to allow the Narakhans?” The tall Lion Prime inquired with a hint of surprise within his voice. “I’m… not against the decision, merely curious. May I ask why you decided to go through with this, your highness?”

The Coyote Prime, looked down to the table, seemingly collecting her thoughts before releasing a resolute nod.

“When mother used to speak about her subjects, she mentioned how easy it is for a monarch to merely favor the grand majority if those are the ones that are important for a ruler’s reign,” The young woman started to explain. “But only a good monarch understands that they are the ruler of everyone, and that their duties are to the people as a whole, not just to a majority or a group with power within their domains.”

…

“Many years ago, I had the chance of meeting a younger Rehema. She was older than you back then, but she was dealing with the loss of her mother just like I can see you are doing with her,” The old man commented. “She was nervous as you were now, far from reaching your full potential… but at the same time, I have to say you’re shining with a brighter glint than hers. I can feel… much more strength behind your words, more confident,” He paused to look at me and give me a thankful nod. “More support.”

Just as he finished saying this, our attention was taken away as we noticed the previously unconscious Narakhan now stirring and preparing to wake up. I tensed, ready to restrain the guy again before he could try anything funny on us.

The elder shifted tiredly, slowly waking up and revealing that while we had all been distracted, something bizarre had occurred with his appearance. His face and left arm… there was no sign of the cursed mark that once had occupied these parts of his body now.

He seemed to notice that something had changed based on the way he tensed up and looked around. Finally, he looked back at the rest of the people sitting at the table and… spoke up.

“W-Why is everything so… quiet now?” The old Narakhan asked, his confusion soon fueling a shocked reaction from every single occupant of the tent.

The signs were gone, and from the comment he had delivered, many knew that the most absurd development had indeed happened. The Narakhan, albeit an old one, was cleansed from the taint left by the Emperor upon his subjects.

I paused in an effort to try and understand what had caused this phenomenon to happen, only for my mind to bring up a couple of moments that eventually cemented the only viable option at it. Light Magic was, by all definition, the strongest Element to use against Chaos. It was a known fact in combat but, by definition, it should also have some major effects against a Narakhan’s mark.

“I- Could it be that Light magic works on the taint?” I asked with a brief stutter, turning to glance at the others. “I was using Light magic to shield myself from the Emperor’s pressure, but I didn’t stop using it as I grabbed his arm.”

There was an eerie quiet as I waited for a response, only for the table to descend in a silent brainstorming session as they all tried to confirm this phenomenon as the result of Light Magic itself.

“He has been purified from the corruption,” Archie commented. “My analysis confirmed this four times now.”

“So it’s...”

“Light Magic seems to be responsible for curing marked Narakhans,” The Spirit interrupted with a solid nod. “But I would suggest more studies before rushing to this conclusion.”

One of the Narakhans that had been standing by the elder carefully approached me, offering her right arm, the one that sported the taint, as I carefully took hold of it and started to carefully draw on my light magic. Shortly after that action, the young woman pulled away as I let her be and she stared at her mark-less arm and… she couldn’t feel any connection with the Emperor.

“I-It worked just like with Naghi.” She muttered in awe. “It worked!”

Before I could say anything about the matter, I saw the rest of the group swarming my seat as I was quickly asked to deal with their marks too. I wasn’t sure if I had the means to do so since I was getting very drained from merely two purification attempts. Still, I tried to get as many Narakhans purged from the Emperor’s influence as possible, only for Addie to have to step in and handle the last few remaining since I was too tired from the couple more I went through. 

I was relieved when we somehow managed to get all of it done at the expense of my body straining the most and forcefully growing exhausted as the novelty drew for a while and the final notes of the conversation began. Addie managed to be barely winded by the experience, but she seemed to keep her composure just fine until the meeting was over.

The Narakhans were quick to praise me and swear absolute allegiance to both me and the queen I was a subject to, drawing some awkward looks from the rest of the table as I tried to handle this barely awake. I was close to falling asleep by the time the entire meeting came to a closure. A proper division of leadership happened, with Carmie working with Muraty’s soldiers, Grace collaborating with Anneli’s activists and… I was left with both Alwin’s spies and Naghi’s Narakhans.

For now this would hopefully only be temporary, and I really hoped for someone more experienced with spies to come by and handle that kind of mess. I doubted the Narakhans would’ve accepted me ditching my ‘job’ as their ‘merciful savior’. They seemed rather certain of their loyalty to me, and by proxy to Adela, and I wasn’t planning to shake the boat just yet.

With the reunion ending, the need to start packing things began. Now that the Emperor had shown himself and was surely aware of the last position of his rogue Narakhans, it would’ve been foolish to linger too much by the planet we were currently waiting by.

The journey resumed, this time with the order of the fleet far more organized as we prepared for the next step in our journey. Now that there was a foundation for the renewed royal cause, it was time to move on and try to find the other Crests.

_**A tough task that was easier said than done…** _

\----------d-d-d-d---------------d-d-d-d-------------

**AN**

‘ **Insert funny joke and lame request for feedback’**

**Also lemon is coming soon… and it’s gonna be spicy.**


	14. Addie 1 – The Shower Fun

**Addie 1 – The Shower Fun**

What’s the best thing one can ask when they are done with a tough training session?

A nice and warm shower, some silence and-

“A friend that scrubs your back.”

Yes, a friend that scrubs your- Hold up!

“A-Addie?”

The Prime giggled as my head half-turned to grace her. The young woman was standing behind me, completely naked and happily smiling at me as I regaled her with a surprised look.

“What? I thought it would’ve been nice to offer you some support.”

I don’t recall asking, and I’m quite sure that this kind of ‘support’ would require a form of consent. I was glad that Carmie and Grace were out from the showers already, having ended their training sessions a little earlier than we did. Kind of awkward to handle this kind of situation when they are around and… capable of messing things more than they were right now.

“I-I think that-”

“Hmm~?” The girl interrupted with a smug tone. “Do you want me to wash you some more?”

“I-I’m trying to say that- why?” I managed to ask. “W-Why are you… doing this?”

“Aren’t we friends?” The queen asked, getting a frown out of me and a nod. “Then what’s wrong with us being this close? A queen should be trusting of his fierce and most loyal knight.”

“That is until it gets this intimate,” I rebuked softly. “Seriously, why?”

…

“I guess I just… wanted to do this,” The girl replied calmly, then a genuine hint of worry appeared on her face. “Are you uncomfortable?”

“I was when you just appeared out of nowhere, but I suppose it’s fine if it’s just this.”

She frowned. “Just this? I mean, not that I’m trying to do something you don’t want but… why just this?”

“I...I don’t think I understand what you’re trying to-”

“Would it be wrong to think of wanting more?” Adela elaborated, her tone growing serious. “Why would it be bad?”

“You’re the-”

“Turn around, please. I know it’s weird but… I want to speak to you face to face.”

…

I had to comply, and I was finally able to look at her directly in her eyes. There was a degree of hurt that I quickly took notice of, and with that I felt confused as to what she was trying to bring up through that question.

“Addie, you’re the queen and I’m your knight. It’s… it’s wrong for me to try and-”

“And what?”

…

“You- you’re not thinking of me just as a friend, aren’t you?”

…

I sighed, taking a moment to ponder if I should be honest or not. In the end, I had to give up that kind of secret since I could tell she wanted to hear this more than ever, and by lying to her I would just hurt her even more.

_But what if this opens up to that unfair scenario I worried so much about?_

“No.”

For some reason, her eyes gained a shine as I said this.

“F-For more or-”

“More,” I interrupted, her posture tensing up as I said this with some seriousness. “But I know that, even though I want this… that it wouldn’t work. I’m the knight, you’re the queen.”

…

Instead of something serious being returned my way, I found myself subjected to a snort and a shake of head from Addie.

“Y-You mean that you believe you can’t try… because you’re not a member of the royal family?”

… “Yes?”

She patted my chests with her hands. “You stupid dummy, how do you think I was conceived then?”

My mouth opened at the little insult and the sudden question. Thinking about it, I actually found myself wondering about that myself.

“Your mother was in a relationship with...”

“Her first knight, my father,” The Coyote Prime revealed with a small smile. “It’s pretty common and I believe it’s allowed by our rules that the Queen can have a serious relationship with her Knight. Since many men would want to gain power through marriage, why not have the very one that has sworn fealty to their cause, to the protection of their lives and their undying happiness?”

“So you… you mean to tell me that if we both wanted to go for a deeper thing then it wouldn’t be… scandalous?”

“Just tell me,” The girl muttered mirthfully, sighing as I took a while to offer her a response. But not because I was nervous about speaking up, rather I was trying to cope with the fact that I made so much of a fuss out of a problem that didn’t exist.

…

I felt a smile finally blossoming on my face as I regarded her with a nod.

“I think I have the proper words to offer you. Do you promise me that you will accept those?”

Adela frowned but… still nodded in acceptance to my request.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Feeling my smile widening at her convinced words, I dived in for a sudden response. Her eyes widened as I captured her lips with mine, but the young woman didn’t back away from the kiss as I pulled her in a deep one.

There was a sense of stillness as I enjoyed the intimacy. The closeness between the two of us was so brilliant and perfect that I forgot about the fact we were standing there, naked and alone in the showers.

Addie was the one that pulled away, licking her lips in a somewhat sensual manner before diving back in for more of that. I didn’t decline her, particularly enjoying the fact one part wasn’t trying to overwhelm the other and… as I happily accepted this, I also realized that something about our closeness was _off_.

At first I didn’t pay it much attention, then I realized something was indeed strange when I felt something wet touching my-

_Oh, I actually have a boner._

Nothing wrong considering the current circumstances, but the problem wasn’t that reaction. No, it was what the reaction was doing at that very moment.

_And it’s tapping right at the entrance of Addie’s pussy._

…

_O-Oh no!_

Before I could’ve done something to solve this awkward issue, I felt Addie shiver as she seemed to take notice of the little situation unfolding on the lower zones. Pulling once again away from the kiss, her eyes glanced below and she paused at the interesting scene. No comment, only staring as she seemed to think deeply about this very instance.

Instead of being unnerved by the sight, the girl actually seemed… interested in it. Instead of backing away from the tip pressing right there on her groin, she started to rub at it. The action got a shiver out of me as I felt her lower lips part just a little bit because of that, and I could feel the warmth from those.

“This would be my first time,” The girl pointed out flatly, and I… blinked.

“Same.”

Her stare returned to my face.

“Really?”

I nodded, and soon our sight was back on down below.

…

“Do you want to… try?” Addie asked with interest. “I mean, if you don’t want then we can-”

“Do you really… want to do this? We just… you know.”

“I,” The queen paused, thinking more about it. “I would like that. Yes.”

“I guess… I guess I wouldn’t mind if we do.”

And so we decided to go through with some preparation before that hastily-planned escalation. A little foreplay moment so that we could get ready for the main event. My erection was carefully nestled by her legs so it was pushed close to her own groin, the length smoothly rubbing near her lower lips for a while as I got accustomed to what kind of development this confession was taking.

Not that I was dismayed by this, only surprised. Pleasantly so from what my own member was displaying with that full mast. The rubbing was accompanied by her large breasts pressing onto my chest as I pulled her closer by squeezing her delightful behind in an effort to get her to moan even more in my mouth.

The smooching session was getting steamier, with our tongues wrestling against each other in a battle for dominance over our connected mouths. Tasting her so roughly, I could help but feel more enticed to pick up the pace with the rubbing. I felt like I was lifting her off the group as I had her rub this quickly, and she seemed to almost return the favor by starting to hump at me.

The sheer intensity eventually resulted in our first orgasm together. As she squirted her juices over my shaft, my cum flew off in four strong moves. We were both sensitive at that point, and despite the little surprise at how draining this activity already was, we still went through with the real deal. Once we were both sitting down, Adela proceeded to lean her back to the ground as I moved over her lovely form.

Staring down on her, I smiled as she regarded me with the happiest grin. Just some extra rubbing by her entrance was enough to stop my cock from going flaccid, and I saw her legs part and wrap close to my hips to indulge me into going forward. After lining the member right by her wet opening, I slowly entered inside her. The tip parted her lips, stretching the entrance a little to accommodate the first inch in. Soon I continued with my careful penetration, almost losing my concentration because of how tight and warm it all felt inside.

Then I felt the block that confirmed her virginity and with a cautious but swift pound, I pierced through. The girl bit down a yelp, but I stopped as she wrapped her arms around my neck, holding me tightly close as I allowed her to take in the painful sensation she had to go through.

…

Her heavy breathing felt warm on my shoulder, and before I knew it she had her lips pressing and smooching all over my skin there. It was a sign that, despite having just lost her v-card, that she was ready to go further. I went in with just a sliver of hesitation, allowing more inches inside her as she adjusted her posture, with her hold tightening once in a while before lessening the moment her body felt ready to keep going.

Once I was all inside her, I noticed some relief in her as she pulled off from my shoulder and stared down as our groins were now pressing on each other. My cock was all inside, and her walls were squeezing and sucking as I allowed her to move around and grow accustomed to the sensation.

“It feels… _filling_ ,” The young queen mirthfully commented, her pun getting a simple sigh out of me. “Can you… do it gentle?”

My smile widened.

“For my queen, this and much more.”

I started to pull out, making sure to stop only when only the tip was inside. Once this little process was over… I pushed it all back in. The motion was smooth, but not too quick to draw pain out of the soreness the girl was still trying to handle in that moment. I continued with this careful pacing for some time, beginning to pick up the speed only as the Prime asked me to.

The pistoning was still flowing smoothly, but it was easy to perceive an increase of pleasure the more I moved faster in and out. The friction offered by her inner sections over my cock was enough to send blissful jolts to the two of us.

We were both interested to see how far the pleasure could go with that simple phenomenon, and soon we abandoned ourselves in the mere pursuit of a limit- or a lack of it since it would just favors us more if it didn’t have one. The pounding increased, and her hips giddily returned the vigor with their own humping, intensifying the contact, and bringing a higher pace to the entire ordeal.

To a certain point onward, our lips were once more locked onto each other, with our minds melting at the sheer warmth exploding from the two of us. We were so close, so tight, and so united that it just felt so natural to release everything out without ourselves really noticing.

I felt my cream fill her up entirely. Not literally, that would’ve been just odd but… I felt her moan loudly in our kiss as she too flooded with her own juices. Just with that, I felt my energy drained again, this time much more and more intensely than with the foreplay.

Pulling away from her proved to be quite difficult. Not only I felt temporarily tired, but I just didn’t want to move away from her side with how delightful it felt to be by her.

Sitting up, I looked at the result of our first time together. Cum was dripping from her opening, and for a moment I felt panic surging at the chances of having made her pregnant with that move. Then I realized that we were both incompatible beings to conceive as easily as we could with same-species partners.

…

Which meant that we weren’t to be worried by the chances of making that massive step since it was slightly impossible for her to get pregnant by me. I looked up at the Prime’s face and I saw her think the same as her lustful eyes were over me.

Licking her lips, Addie eyed my renewed erection with desire. Before I knew it, she was pushing me down and preparing to go through with the second round. I was far from unhappy with her drive to go beyond one time, and I eagerly grasped at her butt as she started to bounce up and down as she enjoyed the cock inside her.

I came inside again. And again. The first four rounds became eight. Then ten and finally twenty.

_**We were so incredibly distracted by our love-making that we failed to notice that after a certain point someone had decided to watch the entire session from afar.** _

“So that’s… how babies are made, right?” Grace asked quietly, looking at the curious scene together with Carmesi.

“That’s one of the things it does, but it’s also a good way to get some pleasure out of it,” The Fire Crest whispered back. “Right now, they are doing it for the second purpose.”

“It looks nice,” The Gazelle Prime commented with a nod. “It sounds nice too.”

“It’s because it can be if the guy knows how to treat you properly,” The fellow woman added with a sigh. “Not like these… morons I saw ogling me back when I was with the Empire.”

Pink eyes narrowed at that detail. “So you think it would nice to do it with him?”

“It…” Carmie paused, glancing at the naive girl for a moment. “Swear to me you’re not going to tell anyone about this.”

“I promise~.”

The Fire Crest sighed again. “I guess I wouldn’t mind doing it with Theo. He doesn’t seem to be the prick that would make things awkward or… painfully annoying.”

“Maybe you should ask him.”

“And then what? Get a laugh or a sneer from him?” The fighter rebuked sternly. “It doesn’t work that way.”

…

“Why not?”

“Well, if there isn’t a certain closeness between two people, it’s just weird asking.”

“So… I can’t ask him because that would be weird?”

“You...” Carmie paused, actually shocked by that comment. “You want to do it with him?”

“Him or Addie, maybe both,” The Love Crest happily admitted. “They sound so nice together, and I know that it could be fun. The more the merrier, that’s what I’ve read in some books.”

“It- It just doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?”

…

“Nonetheless, I want to try. It seems really nice and… is it alright that I feel quite **wet** by my groin after watching them?”

The Fox Prime completely stopped staring at the pure smut unfolding before the two, her eyes showing pure shock at that unexpected query.

“I guess it’s… quite exciting.”

Grace blinked. “Oh? Is that the correct term for this condition? Is it called ‘excitement’?”

The Fire Crest nodded, but instead of answering these questions, she decided that she herself could gain something out of this predicament. Quickly pulling the fellow Crest away from the sex session, her actions warranted the utter confusion from the Gazelle Prime.

“Where are we going?”

“My room. I can’t just let you remain like this and… I’m horny myself.”

“Horny?”

Carmesi sighed. “It’s a synonym for excited in this very situation. You will understand what I’m planning to do soon enough.

“Oh, is it like that funny thing?”

…

“Something like that. Yes.”

_**And with that, everyone in the ship was engaging in quite intense activities. Archie had long decided to pull away from looking at both circumstances, distracting himself with some loud music to drown the awkwardness of being aware of everything happening in the ship.** _

\-----------d-d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d------------

**AN**

**Who will be the next one? Carmie or Gracie?**

  
  



	15. Fragmentation

**Chapter 11: Fragmentation**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

“Ladies, Archie- We have found ourselves in quite the interesting situation here,” I muttered as we stood over the holographic map displaying the space around us. To be more precise, it was displaying an entire quadrant of the star system. “After reviewing some Imperial charts, I decided to set up a couple of stops we need to go through for the next week. Passing around these three planets, our main destination is this specific planet.”

“You found another Crest?” Addie inquired with a hint of hope. Unfortunately for her, I had to squash that optimism with a grim look.

“Not… really. While there is a small chance of finding Ice somewhere living in two of those celestial bodies, I don’t think we will since these maps have been updated recently. Which means a fleet has already gone around and scanned the area thoroughly.”

As the young queen lowered her gaze in annoyance, Carmesi lifted a hand up with a confused look. I gave her a nod, curious of what she wanted to ask.

“Yes?”

“How are you sure we will know when we are close to another of us?” The Fox Prime asked. “I thought there was no way to find the others.”

“Well, that is because circumstances change and because there is one thing that I learned by reading some old data from the Empire,” I happily announced before starting to explain. “Crests tend to feel a ‘pull’ when a Crest of opposite element is close to them.”

…

“You mean that… if I get close enough to Water-”

“Or Ice.”

“Or Ice, I will... ‘feel’ where they are or something like that?”

“It would be a more general sensation than that. You will feel a pull from within trying to have you want to check on planets we will come close to during our trip around the galaxy,” I further explained. “From what the documents we got about it, old accounts from Prism that were recovered from the Empire mention how bickering was common between the old Crests, mostly between those that were recognized as ‘natural enemies’. Nothing that ended up in bloodshed, but it was the reason for competitions to become essential to preserve peace and harmony on the planet.”

“So I’m just a detector now?”

“You have more personality than one,” I mirthfully replied, getting a snort out of the woman. “But seriously, if I had alternatives, I would have taken those. This really is the only way to find Crests.”

“It’s not that bad,” Grace commented. “Sure, it means we will have to keep an eye out for any strange interest for any of the planets we will come across with, but I don’t think it’s that unpleasant.”

“It isn’t that, I know better than questioning what Theo actually thinks of us,” Carmie admitted. “It’s just… I’m bored. It’s been a long while since we had a serious fight with our enemies.”

I frowned. “Well, we have been on the run for some time now, but I suspect you will be happy to know that once we arrive at our last stop for the week, you will have the chance to train your cadets.”

That got her attention to me.

“You mean we are actually stopping?”

“We need to scavenge for resources. We aren’t in dire need right now but-”

“But it’s only for the best that we do that now that we are not intensely chased by the Empire,” Addie completed for me, nodding in agreement to that line of thought.

“Which is why I picked the best planet out of the ones around. Food, resources that can be used for any fixing, or to improve the current state of the ships,” Archie added with a grin. “We can use the units within the ship to recover minerals, synthesize medicines, and create weapons depending on what we find.”

“Maybe recover some new plants too?” Grace offered, fascinated by the chances of expanding the little garden she had begun very recently. It was good to see that she didn’t drop that peaceful hobby.

“It shall be done, my lady!” The spirit agreed loudly, gaining a giggle out of the Gazelle Prime before the ball returned to the Fire Crest.

“Still, do I even have the time to start training the troops?” Carmesi pressed on with a concerned tone. “Wouldn’t we need to move out of that planet once we are done scavenging for stuff?”

“We shall take two days to get everything running smoothly,” I answered quietly. “Now that we have the chance to carefully get enough things before resuming the run, it would be best we took some time in this important situation. The next time we stop, it will be probably to have you train the men even more and… then resume the run.”

“We are only running… that isn’t good,” The former Imperial Captain remarked with some irritation.

“It’s not something that we have much of a choice about,” Adela pointed out. “I understand you want to attack the Empire, and, believe me, I want to do that myself, but we can’t just try to fight them when they will not hesitate to exploit the disadvantage we have.”

“So we just run? Nothing else?”

“Only until we find an advantage to even the next battles,” I answered, drawing her bored look back on me. “And you know this too. The moment we get the advantage, you can be on the first line to handle the future battles with the Imperial Forces.”

“I will hold you on that.”

“Oh, trust me. I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun considering how vicious you get when you are angry.”

The Fox Prime grinned giddily at that comment, finding it to be more of a compliment than a jab I had thrown her way. She really was prideful of her short-temper…

With this reunion wrapping up, I followed Archie back to the cockpit. While the spirit resumed control of the ship, I sat down by one of the many available seats in there. With Adela deciding to join Grace for a quiet session of gardening, and Carmesi checking on any exercises she could offer to her newest toys- _subordinates_ , I was pretty much left alone with what to do during the next few hours.

So I decided to keep the Nanozell Spirit some company as I took this opportunity to think about recent developments.

“Do you think we will manage to find another Crest so soon?” I asked the partly-busy spirit, gaining a frown out of him.

“Statistically or do you need an opinion?”

“I have seen the data. Just give me your thoughts on the matter,” I muttered quietly.

“It’s… a tough call to make, boss,” Archie admitted. “I believe it’s possible. Maybe if it’s played on the chances that we have been quite lucky until now. But… I still don’t think we will find anyone anytime soon.”

I nodded, conceding to his point without hesitation. As much as I shared Addie’s hopes of finding someone else to join the crew in the matters of days or event weeks, we were still running in a very complicated situation. The Empire was certainly keeping chasing us, no matter how fast we were to them. It was only a matter of when they would find us and how we were going to handle it, either through battling or making a run for it and keep up the cat and mouse play.

“Let’s hope in good luck then. Actually, wouldn’t it have been hilarious if there had been a Crest of Luck?”

“Maybe. I mean, if they weren’t loyal to the Empire, then sure,” The spirit remarked and I shivered at the possibility of such a bizarre addition becoming the worst enemy to fight.

“That sure is going to make sleeping difficult.”

“Doubtful,” The spirit mirthfully shot back. “The queen would cuddle you up well enough to put you in the sweetest of dreams.”

I huffed. “There is no need to flex that you peeked at us while we were sleeping-”

“And sharing a shower together.”

My eyes narrowed after hearing that interruption. It was blatantly an admission from the spirit that had peeped on the time together with Addie.

“You watched?”

“Hehe, sorry boss.”

“We really need to find some rules about the showers,” I lamented in faux irritation, deciding to not press any further and retreat to my thoughts for the time being. There was a lot to unwind, and much that I wasn’t exactly sure I was ever going to understand considering the depth behind it all.

Starting with the fact that the Narakhans that were helped a few days ago were really devoted to Addie’s cause. It was easy to see how much respect they had for us from the daily messages. Everything was mostly formal, with just some minor allusions from a few female ones that seemed to have grown some interest in me.

I could tell it was just a case of ‘damsels-in-distress’, with their affection mostly born from the fact I was the one that learned that they could be cured by the marks, and I really didn’t blame them for thinking so highly of me.

Digging further into the Imperial files, I learned that even though the best known cases of criminals were Primes, there was a large number of Narakhans that were known to have deserted active duty. Some even managed to push away the influence of the Emperor’s mark through sheer willpower, but only a few came close to actually fight the entire thing off and that usually didn’t go beyond a few hours of lucid control over their actions.

These people were killed on sight, with only a handful being spared out of the chances of having them ‘re-educated’ and sent to handle different activities across the Empire. Some managed to live through the treatment, others weren’t… that lucky.

The deeper I looked into the matter, the more I realized how much of a terrible monster the Emperor really was. It’s one thing to kill off any threats to your people… but that entire narrative was crushed by the cynical take the guy had over the few groups that were still part of his kind. I was so angered by this, I started wondering if he was born evil, or if something had been behind this horrible creature that so eagerly flaunted himself to be an Emperor. A ruler.

As I pondered about this, I felt my mind growing tired and, considering how early I had to wake up to be prepared for the reunion, I planned to take a little nap before doing anything else. One muffled yawn later, my eyes were close as I leaned back on the chair and allowed the silence of space to lull me away from that difficult predicament.

_**If only I knew that there was something worse on the other side.** _

\------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------

The first thing that hit me as I woke up, was the brightness that forced my eyes to keep close for a while. There was some loud cheering, I was standing and soon I was pushed forward. Panic continued to rise the more I struggled in what felt to be iron chains restraining my arms together, allowing only my legs to move.

The crowd that I couldn’t see just yet was chanting from a distance and the deafening noise was incredibly unnerving to me. Finally, my eyes adjusted to the light and… the chains that were holding me put seemed to break the moment I could properly see. I almost tripped forward, but I caught myself just in time to see a problematic issue in front of me.

The monstrous giant in front of me roared fiercely, causing the spectators of this brutal competition to scream in pure eagerness at the viciousness of my… opponent. Giving a quick look around as I backed away from the current threat, I realized that I was now walking around what looked to be an arena of sorts, one similar to the coliseum.

The Narakhans screaming for violence to finally happen, the impressive size of the setting, and me being forced to face what looked to be an elemental titan. The humanoid stood several feet taller than me, and its body was partly muscled. Violet magma bubbled between the cracks on its solid stone-like skin. No intellect, only ferocity.

I had yet to understand what was happening. Why was I here? Where was my sword? And… Why couldn’t I use any magic at that moment?

This last element was worrying since I would have expected it to actually work. Yet, here I was, trying to find a way to get off this awkward predicament. Thankfully enough for the deities watching over me, I found a battle hammer that had been left within the battle ground after its former user was supposedly devoured by the monster from the fact the weapon was still attached to the skeleton’s hand and arm that had survived for that long. It was heavy, but I could take a swing without feeling unbalanced or risking to trip myself while attacking.

I turned around, the behemoth already rushing towards me with impressive speed when I gave it my attention once more. I had to play it safe and rush away from its trajectory, allowing it to go past me and slam itself on the barrier that protected the spectators from any attack from within the fighting area. Recoiling at the failed attack, the elemental beast barely noticed that I was already preparing to hit its left leg. The physical damage was perhaps not enough to rip apart the bastard’s leg, but it helped in breaking its bone, or whatever was giving its leg structure, and brought it down on one knee.

Pain and frustration were displayed by its furious growling, but it was all for naught as I jumped up from its aching leg and then up to the back of its head. With the beast still close to the barrier that kept it from killing the Narakhans watching this madness unfolding, I delivered a powerful blow by forcing its head to hit the barrier once again, this time with more strength than before. It collapsed down as I returned back on the sandy floor.

It tried to crawl away, growling and roaring fiercely in an effort to live through this.

Live, survive, hope, beg. _**Kill, kill, KILL.**_

I felt its massive skull caving in as I dropped down the last hit, the hammer doing its job and delivered the killing blow. There was no gore or anything that could have made many squeamish, with dark smoke coating the now-deceased being before a crystal formed at the epicenter of the smoke. It looked so beautiful, so mesmerizing. Enough for me to start walking towards it, despite the fact my brain was screaming that this was a blatant trap.

My body was just too endeared to it, and it continued to advance towards it. One blink, I could see my arm, the next one I had light-gray fur and several cuts all over it. Panic surged at this very development, realizing that this was no longer my body and- and- Then I stopped. Or rather, I was stopped by something I hadn’t perceived until that moment.

“ **Enough** ,” A feminine voice said with a serious tone, drawing me to a pause as I turned around to be greeted by a cloaked figure. “ **That isn’t a power you want. Not when its main purpose is to ensnare, control… destroy all logic within its slaves.** ”

“Who- Who are you?”

“ **This is unimportant. I believe you have people to go back to. People that care a lot to you.** ”

I took just a step towards her. “Who are you?”

She ignored my question and, right before I could press that query once again, I found myself falling down into oblivion, the floor disappearing beneath my feet. I struggled, trying to find a way out of that darkness that had swallowed and…

And soon...

_**I was being… shaken. Awake.** _

I woke up with a terrible headache, glancing at a confused Archie as he gave me a close up of his concerned expression.

“B-Boss?”

My panic was momentary when I saw him this close, but at least we didn’t headbutted each other with that sudden wake up. My head was in pain when I realized who I was looking at.

“Archie,” I replied quietly. “Was I… moving in my sleep?”

“A little bit, yeah. Your… your pulse was also picking up,” The spirit replied. “The cardiac anomaly was what really concerned me. Your heartbeat just started intensifying by the minute, and...”

I sighed. “What?”

“Your heart… it stopped working for a few seconds. I thought it was a heart attack or something similar but… diagnosis confirms that you are free from fearing that kind of circumstance.”

“What?”

“It was really brief. About five seconds-”

“Archie, a human body shouldn’t be able to do something like that without a heart attack,” I interjected, now fully awake and trying to grasp at the news. “Did you start the scanning for any anomaly?”

“I’m checking your blood right now, boss,” The floating spirit assured with a hint of nervousness. “I should have results in an hour from now.”

I ignored the fact he took a sample of my blood without asking, knowing that there was a greater issue I needed to make sense of. I slowly nodded at him, my mind finally bringing up the chances of this being tied to the strange dream I just woke up from.

I didn’t say anything, still shaken by what I had seen there and… I decided that I really needed to waste my mind on other topics. Something that could keep me distracted while Archie searched for any issues within my body. I was sure I hadn’t been taken by any of the taint I had cleansed a while ago, so I was confused by what was that last bit.

_**Like seriously, I need to drown myself in training right now or I’m going crazy with all this stuff.** _

\---------------d-d-d-d------------

I sat down for a moment, trying to recover from the intense training session I had just finished. The more I got stronger, the more the need to increase the difficulty of the exercises became a must if I wanted to be in the best shape possible. Magic, swordsplay, and even reading old documents from Prism were going to make the difference once we arrived on Earth.

There was a lot to unravel of what I was discovering. A greater look in their society, the way affairs were handled by the only government, and what made them so unprepared to handle the invasion from the Empire. The impressive amount of details was enough to leave me baffled.

Names, dates, places, explanations and a daily tale of how things really worked back in Prism. I was blushing when I ended up finding the spot that confirmed Adela’s explanation that Royal Knights tended to marry with Queens and become King-Consorts to them. Similar to how the situation with Queen Elizabeth II was, except I was not a noble, I didn’t have to follow any etiquette, and I could potentially mess things up if I didn’t find a balance between being the guy with the plan and being the guy that was seriously concerned with his girlfriend’s safety.

If until now training had served to keep me busy from dealing with what had happened mere hours ago, then I sure as hell now knew that this method wasn’t working anymore. At least, not in the way I intended it to, by having me think of simple things. Like fighting, or improving any combo and correct remaining flaws to my posture. It took me receiving a sudden slap on the back of my head to realize that I was no longer alone in the gym room.

Tripping down at the sudden hit, Carmesi huffed as she made her presence known by towering over me. The Fox Prime stared down at me, a mix of confusion, fascination, and annoyance flashing through her eyes as she waited for me to get up.

“W-What was that?”

“Me telling you that it’s lunchtime,” The young woman reminded, my eyes widening as I realized that I had indeed wasted that much time in my thoughts that I barely remembered what time it was. “So, what’s with the whole ‘hardcore training’ you’ve been going for?”

“Bored,” I quickly excused myself, only for the Fire Crest to scoff at me.

“Bullshit. You’re not the kind of guy that is into training this much,” She rebuffed. “In fact, I bet there is something really frustrating that got you to come here and focus only on training.”

“Maybe you’re seeing a lot about it. But that’s why I got there and-!!”

Her right hand grasped at my shirt and she lifted me up a little bit. My eyes narrowed back at her pissed look as she started glaring at me.

“So I’m seeing ‘a lot’, am I? I bet you weren’t even expecting to be caught here on your own,” The Fox Prime fiercely pointed out. “So you either tell me the truth, or I make sure you’re going to spend two days at the med bay.”

Violent as usual, but I could tell that most of that was actually concerning. Surely this is a bluff, one that I figured I could shrug off if I wanted to. And so I spoke up and told her the truth.

“I think… I almost died a while ago.”

…

“What?!” Carmie exclaimed, pushing me a little off the hug. “You did what?”

“I didn’t exactly do something to get to that point. I was just sleeping and… then things started to get really weird,” I explained slowly. “I was having this strange dream, which I’m quite sure wasn’t a normal one since I woke up right in an arena and… I was facing a massive monster. A crystal and-”

“Hold up. Take a moment to recollect your thoughts,” She urged as she settled me down. Concern was finally overwhelming her personal frustration. “What happened in this ‘dream’?”

I sighed, trying to put my uneasiness under control for this very moment.

“I woke up in this arena. A big place with hundreds of people around, all Narakhans, and I was supposed to face something I could only describe an elemental monster.”

“What kind of elemental?”

“Well… I think it was supposed to be a magma-related creature. It was structured so eyes, mouth nostrils, plus several cracks on his body showed an orange brightness inside it.”

“Sounds like an elemental golem. But those are… extinct,” The young woman pondered quietly. “I believe those were banished when the Emperor decided to impose the first rules to Chaos-Makers. Some constructs were outright banned and… the place you brought up might be the Discorded Ground.”

Confusion swelled in my eyes. “And you know this-”

“Because it was destroyed during the first years of the Empire,” Carmesi continued for me. “So if you saw it in a dream, then somehow you saw… the past. But still, what happened next?”

“My heart just stopped working for a couple of seconds,” I answered nervously, seeing how her body tensed up at that news. “It was around the time I finished the golem off and was about to… grasp at the crystal in there.”

“Crystal?”

“A violet one, yes. I believe it was something that was offered after beating that monster since it appeared to replace it.”

Much to my surprise, the Fire Crest narrowed her eyes in pure confusion at what I had just said.

“That’s… not possible. The reward of winning at the Discorded Ground was to live for another day. Whatever you saw was either about something I don’t know completely about, or maybe it isn’t what I just brought up.”

I nodded, for some reason I felt the need of keeping the whole ‘cloaked lady’ detail off the tale since I… I felt it was best to be left untouched. It was like a nudge of sorts, one that had me really worried for a moment since I thought of the chances of this individual being more than she let me see her as.

After calming the Fox Prime down by assuring her that I wasn’t in danger of dying again anytime soon (even though I didn’t have enough proof to confirm this), I mentioned to her that it would’ve been for the best to not have this told to Grace and Adela. She nodded at this, understanding why it would have caused quite the trouble if the news got out and-

“...I want a favor.”

I frowned. “What?”

“A simple favor, to not tell the little Queen about this little issue,” The Fire Crest elaborated. “Actually, it’s more of a positive thing for you. I want you to… share the bed with me for tonight.”

“Sharing as in-”

“Sleeping,” Carmie flatly interjected. “I hope you don’t mean you thought that-”

“Nope. I’m… a dumbass.”

The young woman nodded. “Good. And, before you go, there is a thing you can already do to me.”

“And that is?”

Carmesi didn’t say anything else, merely leaning forward and landing a quick peck on my lips with her own. My eyes widened in surprise as she leaned back with a tiny red hue on her face.

“That.”

…

I was caught off-guard by the move. Many were the questions that had me pausing over this development, and for a moment I thought it was a prank. And then I realized the Fire Crest wasn’t the kind of person that would go so far to pull a prank on someone. Especially if the target of said prank had just poured part of his insecurities out like that.

So what had just happened? And why could I tell there was more to it?

“A-And now, d-don’t you fucking dare forget about that. Or I will make that early threat I gave you is going to be the least of your trouble.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am.”

“Carmie is fine too,” She calmly remarked, smirking eagerly at me before leaving me to gauge what had just happened.

…

…

Carmesi had just kissed me and… and I was supposed to spend the night with her. For some reason, I felt dread as I imagined the trouble I was going to have to try and explain this to Addie. How was I supposed to motivate this sudden decision?

I had a few hours before nighttime, but that didn’t exactly mean I had the chance of finding an idea with that little time. I was confused, worried, panicking, but, worst of all, troubled by what the future had in store for me.

Groaning, I started to place back down the equipment I had been using to train and walk up to the kitchen to get the cooking started. I was completely unaware that another Crest had decided to stay around, seeing the little interaction I had with Carmie and… grinning as she wondered what could be done with this.

_**All in the name of cuddles and snuggling.** _

\--------------d-d-d-d---------------d-d-d-d-------

**AN**

**A cloaked woman, a crystal… and Carmie trying to plan out a snuggling session with MC. Yep, nothing to worry about.**


	16. Interlude 4

**Interlude 4**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

I quietly stared at the ceiling in the mostly unfamiliar room.

While I had agreed to this I was starting to slowly grow more reluctant to it with how things were developing into. When I imagined Carmesi’s possible nightwear, I would have imagined something comfy, but far from skimpy.

On the first matter, I was proven right. But when it came to addressing the second element, I was caught off-guard by how scantily-clad she was. She only wore a simple sleeveless white shirt and a pair of short black pants. It wasn’t something too… odd. Sure, I knew that in a normal circumstance where she was supposed to share the bed with someone else, the Fox Prime would have taken a more conservative approach out of self-preservation.

This wasn’t the case here. This left me incredibly confused when she didn’t make much of an interaction before deciding to settle down in the bed. I could still remember the suspicious look coming from Adela and… the amused ones coming from Grace. I had been rather confused by the latter’s reaction, feeling like she knew something was up somehow.

Despite these concerns, the ‘plan’ went through particularly smoothly. I laid down first, the Fire Crest settled beside me. The disposition was awkward at first, a mix of my own lack of certainty about making the first move with her and Carmesi’s own inexperience when it comes to these kinds of situations.

There was silence and… we were cramped since it was difficult fitting two adults in a single bed one beside the other. It was a clear factor that was known to me, and I could tell Carmie too had found that logical conclusion. Uncertainty, doubt and… a sense of interest. She eyed me with a tentative glance, almost confused by the fact that, differently from her guarded stance over the matter, I had taken a more relaxed approach to this.

The staring continued for a long while, with her green orbs growing more fascinated and less reluctant the more I kept on appearing at ease as I could in that very circumstance. Boldness almost coaxed her to make the first step. She shifted in her position, but didn’t outright move at this first pull. The second one happened seconds after the first attempt, this time being ‘braver’ and more extended.

It all felt like a documentary, but in this case, the ‘animal’ I was watching was someone I cared for and was trying to not mess things up in her first effort at cuddling with someone. It was an adorable sight, but one I couldn’t quite chuckle or laugh at right now. One mistake, and the progress she was currently making would have been undone by any reaction she could see as ‘teasing’. So I remained patient as she finally lifted her right arm up, her limb stretching well over my waist before coming down. I felt her muscles there and… I saw her shift her head closer to me.

The embrace looked odd. It began in a bizarre way, but the way it was constructed out of this just felt so… unnatural. This seemed to be the first time she offered trust and that she put herself in such a position.

One can easily pull away from a hug. One can get away from an embrace if they are uncomfortable for a reason or another. The real problem comes in the form of doing something more intimate within the boundaries of trust when one has never given this much to someone else. I was… flattered. But at the same time I was worried about making a mistake and ruining things for her.

So I was really careful when I moved my right arm, the one which she was lying close to, and settled it around her shoulders. She was tense at the action, but she seemed to melt a little bit when she realized it was just that. A blink, she looked up and… stared. There were no words exchanged during this bit of the scene. There was no need for that, not yet at least.

We just stared at each other until I was certain she was at ease with the current disposition we had taken. Once that sureness was confirmed, I decided to finally speak up.

“How are you?”

A simple question, one that got a frown out of the young woman as she carefully shifted better for the soon-to-develop conversation. It was clear that she was getting herself comfortable, surely realizing that the discussion ahead of us was going to be a long one.

“I’m fine. I… is this odd?”

I waited for a moment and sighed.

“I honestly think it is a little bit. But I don’t mind it.”

…

I noticed her shuffle nervously at that, and I sighed. “Are you sure everything is alright?”

“I already said I am fine.”

“There’s not a single problem I can help with-”

“I’m not weak-”

“But saying the truth won’t make you any less stronger than you are right now,” I interjected. “You should know now that if I’m asking you something like this, it’s not because I’m trying to make you feel weak or to see you as weak.”

…

“And I know this can be… difficult to bring up because of how heavy the topic may be for you. I know you are a tough warrior, but I don’t want you to never doubt the fact we are all here for you if there is an issue you believe we call all solve.”

She sighed, nuzzling unconsciously onto my chest. “It’s not so… simple.”

“Then make it simple. I don’t think you aren’t beneath this kind of task.”

Her eyes narrowed for a moment right up to my face, but she relented and nodded in agreement to this.

“I… this is way different than I imagined it becoming. Being a military leader against a much stronger and better-equipped enemy is never a good twist to one’s career.”

“Are you… worried about messing things up?”

“I… No.”

…

“Maybe,” The Fire Crest admitted, seeing how I wasn’t buying that early response. “It’s just that everything is so complicated. I’m training, I know what to do to train the others… but what if this is not enough? What if, despite all the attention and efficiency I put on my training, I still fall short on making this work?”

…

I sighed. “You are a dummy.”

“You just told me-”

“Because you could have told us this before.”

Her jaws hung low for a moment, surprise replacing annoyance at my continuation.

“What?”

“It’s alright to be worried about the future. Pretty much everyone here is,” I reminded her. “We all are walking with big shoes- big expectations, and our decisions now influence how lives will go. Will people under the cause live? Those who will… die, will they die for a reason or-”

“They will die for a good enough reason,” The Fox Prime interrupted, showing her fierceness on the matter. “We are fighting for something that is worth dying for.”

“But that doesn’t make the loss any less pleasant,” I pointed out, my tone growing sadder because of the circumstance.

There was a lengthy pause after this. We were silent for most of it as we recollected our thoughts on the matter. Eventually, I restarted the conversation since I really didn’t feel any close to falling asleep. And I could tell Carmesi was in my same situation from just a glance.

“You know, when… this is all over, I don’t see why you shouldn’t see Earth yourself. There are… sports and other competitions to test people’s many strengths,” I commented quietly. “We have this big competition called ‘Olympiads’ where the best men and women for each sport is called to represent their nations in a series of challenges.”

“But no deadly fighting?”

“Sports are considered the least deadly solution. There is still war but… it isn’t well-appreciated,” I said, taking a brief pause to think of some appropriate words to explain why that is a situation. “Humanity- I believe I already said that we aren’t known to be peaceful most of the time.”

Carmie nodded. “You mentioned numerous conflicts.”

“Numerous, _costly_ conflicts,” I half-corrected. “In a single century, several millions of people between civilians and soldiers, all in relatively _short_ wars.”

She scoffed at that, but I didn’t hesitate to speak once again.

“War for us, isn’t the same as it was back many centuries ago. It isn’t the testing ground for warriors to shape a new age or to bring hope to the old traditions,” I continued to explain with a serious tone. “It became something of a… business. Those that make weapons entice the conflicts to happen. All for the sake of making money out of it. War is no longer a place for warriors, it is a place meant for people that could either die by battle, or die by experience.”

“So what? Your people stopped this altogether?”

“No,” I replied to her. “War’s early principle, the one to prove people’s worth through a setting, is still alive within these sports. While there are no deadly factors most of the time, there are some tough competitions that would probably interest you.”

“List those up. Convince me.”

I snorted, pulling her a little closer as she held back a smug smirk at that cheeky response.

“Well, the first thing I could think of is Boxing. It’s like hand-to-hand combat, but you can only use punches and… your objective is to knock your opponents,” I complied to her challenge. “Then there are the martial arts like Karate, Kenpo, Muay Thai and many other combat-only sports.”

“I will… hold you on this offer. I want _you_ to show me those instead of just listening to you give me crappy explanations and have me believe that it is ‘so good’ as you make it sound,” She lamented, eyes narrowing back at me.

“Fine by me.”

We shared a smile, more than ready to continue that little conversation when-

_The door was suddenly slammed open._

“By royal decree, tonight shall be a group sleepover!” Addie exclaimed, spearheading the two girls that entered inside. My jaws dropped as I realized that, while Adela had remained in her usual nightgown, Grace decided to make things more embarrassing by joining the ‘party’ without any clothes on herself.

Carmesi’s eyes widened at first, before tensing up as she realized what was happening in that moment. Before I knew it, the Fox Prime had shifted to outright lie atop of me, with her right arm now arched beneath my neck as if to stake her claim on her current disposition. The Fire Crest glared at the young queen, the gesture returned as they began fighting over the left side of the bed… while a certain Gazelle Prime happily sneaked inside the covers on my right side, giggling as little as she stealthily took hold of my arm and turned it in her pillow.

Eventually a strange truce ensued and, once again, the bed was stuffed with people as Adela managed to squeeze herself on the left side, effectively putting me in a sandwich of sorts. With Carmesi resting on my chest, and my arms stolen by the two other Primes, I was left in a pure coat of fur, sweat and confusion.

_**Mostly because I knew next morning was going to be really awkward with the state of undress Grace still was.** _

\---------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d-------

**AN**

**Fluff for the Fluff God!**

  
  



	17. As Cold as Ice

**Chapter 12: As Cold as Ice**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

A week has passed since that interesting cuddling session, and things have been fairly smooth back in the main ship, along with the rest of the fleet.

Just as expected, Carmesi had a blast in her first session training the troops. Sure, I had to intervene on several occasions as the woman seemed to take her role a little too strongly, being quite relentless and merciless with the early routine she wanted to put the backbone of our force through, but the young woman still put her mind and body into making sure that she trained more by example rather than through mere orders.

It was motivating to see their own commanding officer training with them, copying their tasks, and I noticed that this would easily improve their devotion and loyalty to the queen herself. In fact, there was little reason to doubt that in these men and women’s minds that their leader wasn’t giving out high positions without being completely certain of their effectiveness. Because, while I would have been a more calming option compared to Carmie’s more ruthless attitude during training, it was still true that we were in a state of total warfare. Harsh training, if carefully contained to not become deadlier than a normal battle, was good training. The kind that would save lives.

And while the Fire Crest happily enjoyed a job she initially thought akin to babysitting a bunch of grown-up and armed children, I took this opportunity to handle both the small Narakhan tribe and the Intelligence Service.

Starting with Alwin, I found the Hawk Prime to be quick in providing us with information he couldn’t initially offer during the introduction meeting. Data that broadened our access to the Imperial communication array and allowed us to hack into the weaker spots within the system. We were going to know through this situation if any nearby fleet had caught onto us. At the moment, the predicament didn’t seem to hold with the current circumstances much to my relief.

Still, any new information was to be relayed to his group so they could process it with any other information and connections they were aware of. Any further discoveries were to be announced through an emergency message specifically sent to me. As expected, his organization was neatly administered, with a degree of professionalism that was unique to the important role they had been working on for years now.

Finally it was the turn of the Narakhans... and I was surprised by how peaceful they were being. Only two out of the fairly small group decided to join the group Carmesi was training, with the rest studying books and using magic I would have never expected to see being used in front of me in a non-lethal way.

Chaos was… a complicated element to truly accept as a part of this fleet’s life now. I was hesitant in approaching the group as they were trying to use this magic to create living constructs. Small ones right now, but from what Muraty mentioned when I asked about this specific ‘summoning spell’, they could actually do bigger things with proper time, concentration and energy to support the greater beings.

Despite my first impression about this specific branch of this dimension’s magic, I had to say that this was actually… not as bad as I thought it to be. While I hadn’t seen Narakhans use magic, I had thought until that moment that this magic itself was toxic enough to consume the owner’s mind and therefore make them unable to use effectively during a fight.

My knowledge over this matter increased as I tentatively tried exploring the culture behind it by asking simple questions to the elder heading this small tribe. Muraty was awfully happy to part with many lengthy answers to my queries, but I figured out his main purpose stemmed from the fact he was really thankful that his entire tribe had been freed from the painful influence imposed by the emperor.

Either that, or because he was legitimately interested in exploring the possibility of a new kingdom after the end of the Empire where Primes and Narakhans could live together in relative peace. By the end of the day, the only major differences I could pick up from the two cultures were their oddly similar religions, and their attachment to Order and Chaos.

Where the legacy of Prism saw the Dragon Gods as the rightful deities in their Pantheon and Order as the greatest cornerstone of their people, Narakhans were monotheistic. Their belief centered around a single deity, the Goddess of Chaos herself, Tiamat. Not much was known about the divine being beyond the fact that she existed and that she was known to take champions to rule the former homeplanet of the Narakhans many centuries ago. Kings, Emperors- but all those were keen to remain in control of a single planet instead of starting a full-fledged invasion of other places like the current ruler was still doing.

And while it seemed assured that all Narakhans were on the same boat about this matter, the truth was actually the opposite. Not many were that trustworthy of the Emperor’s faith in the original traditions, especially since there were rumors of Tiamat herself dismissing the autocrat as the rightful champion of Chaos.

The conversation would then take a little detour as we shifted onto something directed at me more than the Narakhans. Something that seemed to gain the attention of most of the tribe from the very first question.

“Do you think that… Humans are creatures of Order or Chaos, good Sir Theo?”

The answer to that question proved to be as difficult to properly condense in a few words as it was for anyone listening to the conversation to understand. I remained with the whole stance that ‘Humans were between both extremes rather than being completely endeared to one side’, mostly because that was how humanity tended to be.

Chaos and Order were both equally dispensed to each human being, some preferring one side to the other, but most just sitting in the middle and accepting the status quo as much as possible. This just seemed to further confuse most of the tribe as the perspective of a race capable of keeping such a degree of balance between the two sides that were known to be really difficult to mix properly and by many.

But I was surprised when Muraty didn’t press for more answers on the matter, seemingly accepting what I was saying as I replied to one last question before letting me be. He asked me if Humans had a God or multiple ones at that and… I could only answer that ‘not all humans had the same gods’ which could mean a lot, but one single message stood out. Our ‘pantheon’ wasn’t defined because we really didn’t have as much significant divine involvement as the Narakhans and Primes had in their vast history.

Once we were done with that brief stop as the main purpose of scavenging enough resources to survive beyond a full month was completed, the fleet resumed its rush through the galaxy to try and find another Crest. I was sure that we were going to find one eventually, at least in less than a month with how steadily we were going and the current situation we were in. If it wasn’t Ice or Water, we were to at least expect either Wisdom or Courage as possible alternatives since those were fit opposites of the Love Crest which Grace represented.

Still, not much happened during the week. I was spared by other bizarre visions that tended to leave me close to death’s doorstep, leaving me to focus mostly on studying the new information we could get out of the Empire’s official communication system. There was a lot to discuss at times regarding the way some of the fleets were moving, and I noticed after just two days of focusing on the matter that things weren’t as calm as I prayed those to be.

Minos hadn’t relented, at least not in the indirect way he was aiming to deal with us. While none of the fleets at his disposal were aggressively searching for us, he had disposed of all ships in a way that rendered very troublesome the more time we wasted in searching that quadrant. The net was starting to tighten up, and I knew that after some more time had passed, getting through it without a direct confrontation was going to be immensely problematic.

Nonetheless, hopes were high and we had already made plans to check on a limited number of planets as quickly as possible before moving out of the encroaching perimeter created by the Imperial Fleets. We had to find either Ice and Water to say that this delay was worth all the uneasiness and stress the search was causing us because we were not trying to leave already.

By the end of the week-long lack of progress, something seemed to happen as Carmesi was found _glaring_ at a specific planet.

It was during morning time, and I was asked by Archie to check on the Fox Prime since she had yet to leave her room and she wasn’t answering his calls to come to the kitchen so they could have breakfast as usual. He confirmed that her vitals were fine, but that the heat of the room had increased for some unknown reasons.

I was the one that walked to check and see what was going on. Applying a degree of Fire Magic over my body to better handle the surprisingly hot temperature that was originating from Carmie’s crests. The young woman had yet to switch out of her sleepwear, her attention completely aimed at the celestial body that was currently displayed by her room’s massive window.

I approached her, recognizing the planet as one of the few ones left before we had to leave this section of the galaxy. From what I could remember during the general study we had over the small list we were following, this planet was made by 79% Ocean and an impressive amount of small islands all over its surface. It would have been the ideal place where to make a planetary resort but… at the same time, I believe the fauna within the ocean made it particularly difficult to explore and enjoy thoroughly.

Nonetheless, I stopped beside the young woman and gave her a serious look. “Do you need to be pulled aside right now?”

…

“I… I now see what you meant with ‘aggressive pull’.”

My suspicions were confirmed with that comment. So either Water or Ice was hiding within that tropical world. It was highly-possible that it was Water but… I doubted things were just going to be that easy. It was one of the planets already checked by the Empire, so it felt just odd that someone was living there.

Despite that, I focused for now on Carmesi since the woman was forcibly glaring at someplace she had never visited, and yet was giving her this much of a furious stance to it.

I sighed. “From a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you want that entire planet destroyed?”

…

“Eleven.”

Shaking my head, I grabbed her closest arm and started to pull her away from the window. She didn’t put much resistance, but her annoyance remained even as I made sure her line of sight was no longer aimed at the origin of her current frustrations.

“Do you need something? Water, chocolate milk?”

“Breakfast. And a glass of water,” Carmie replied curtly, surprising me with the fact she was making an effort to hold back the illogical anger that was dripping from each word leaving her mouth. I nodded, taking her to the kitchen while asking Archie to go for a deeper scan of the very nice-looking orb that had caused the mostly neutral Crest to react this intensely.

Once we were finally there in the kitchen, enjoying breakfast together with the others just like usual, I took notice of the fact that the woman’s anger seemed to dilute and then disappear the more she was away from seeing the planet itself. It was an interesting phenomenon that I hadn’t predicted and… I worried about this actually ending up happening with Gracie. The girl was calm, particularly diligent and in love with books. I felt numerous chills at just thinking about it.

I would check on the Nanozell spirit responsible for pretty much the complete working of the starship

Eventually Archie decided to give me the result of the scan, and…

“ _**I think there is more than just a Crest on that planet.”** _

\-----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d------------

The planet was inhabited by a non-negligible amount of Primes. I was shocked when I learned of this through Archie’s data, but it was Adela that was the one most floored by the news as she had been fairly convinced that the enclaves of surviving Primes had been a lot smaller than the one we had just found. Not only did this lift our hopes even more about the chances of finding larger communities that could have survived and prospered after Prism’s fall, but it promised that the people there knew how to fight if they had a Crest among them.

It was decided that only our ship would land and check with the locals since we received a message allowing only our group to land on the planet. The elder, even though not old enough to remember Prism itself, seemed to have a greater understanding of the authority the current Queen had and was quick to agree to a meeting to establish relations with our group.

There was no mention of the Crest in the message, but I figured that a possible reason why he was keeping quiet about them was tied to the chances of offering them as bargaining chips in case this was needed. But I could be looking too deep into it, and decided to leave Adela to take on the lead in this diplomatic exchange. With Carmesi remaining on the ship to not cause any incidents with the unknown Crest, it was only me, Addie, and Gracie on the landing ground when we all left the large starship.

Just like Archie had mentioned, the settlement we were landing near had some advanced equipment that I couldn’t help but notice when we were given a clear sight over the large town that had been built near to a pearly beach. Large poles extended in several sections of the harmonious mix of modern-looking buildings that ended up reaching three floors at best were meant to be all part of a single device that was meant to shield the city’s presence from any scans available to the Imperial fleets.

We were greeted by a couple of guards by the closest entrance. These Primes were armored with light plates of reinforced metal, but their clothes were fairly civilian-looking, with half-sleeved dark-gray shirts and knee-long black pants and light-brown boots. Two of these disciplined soldiers took us to the building where their leader was supposed to be living in. The place was modest, and looked as comfortable and humble as the rest of the houses, except it reached for a fourth floor that, from the distance, looked to be an office room.

Once we were inside the building, the guards took us through the staircase that directly had us reach where the big office we had seen from afar was. The room was pleasant-looking, with nothing that stemmed too much into an intellectually-charged setting compared to other places I had visited years ago.

It was there that we found a big Shark Prime in charge of everything. The old man had graying dark shoulder-length hair, a beard that reached down to the middle of his chest. His ‘skin’ was a light-blue, which matched with the similarly shaded eyes, with some sections by his front a pristine white. He was wearing a light-green robe, gray boots and some armor behind this first layer of clothes. He stood up, kneeling formally towards us.

“Greetings, Queen Adela,” The elder replied with a calm and kind voice. “My name is Ruan, and I’m the leader of our growing community. I wasn’t expecting this pleasant visit. I assume you are here for… him.”

I frowned. “Him?”

It was in that moment that Ruan noticed me, eyes widening for noticing the ‘bizarre being’ standing beside his Queen. Noticing a lack of major response to his surprised mannerism, Roan returned to the main situation, trying to bring the reunion to a quick end for some mysterious reason.

“I believe the old timer is talking about me,” A new voice introduced himself in the room, urging all of us to stare at him.

Silver-hair that was a shade slightly lighter than his pure white fur. A strange, yellow star-like object was plastered on his forehead, contrasting with his blue eyes. He wore a sleeveless blue robe that parted just enough to show his black pants and shoes. His appearance seemed to have been styled in a way that his muscles were in full display for girls to take notice of those all the time they looked at him.

Of course, both the Queen and Love Crest didn’t react to this, trying to understand what the chief had been talking about, and prompting the chirpy individual to speak up again as he noticed that he was being ignored.

“Ladies, there is no need to be shy-”

“Is that so? Then please, explain to me why shoulder”

“Pulsar.”

“What?” I inquired with a frown.

“I’m Pulsar.”

…

“Oh, that’s your name, but why didn’t you say that early on.”

“And kill the mood? Not having any of that!”

Was there a mood to begin with beyond the cringefest unraveling in front of us? I doubted this guy even knew what a mood was but… yeah.

“Pulsar here is a… powerful youth. He had just struck adulthood and he is already on his way to become chief of the guards.”

“Damn right-”

“And why is this important?” Adela questioned with a front. “And why are you allowing someone that is your subordinate to behave so cheekily and disruptive?”

“Now, Now, lady-”

“Your highness or Queen Adela,” The Coyote Prime firmly interrupted. “Don’t think for a moment that I will grant you informality because you are trying to appear dazzling and flirtatious. My patience will not extend at that.”

...That was pretty fierce. I felt rather surprised and felt fairly sure it was tied to the fact she didn’t want to accept the advances of someone other than me. Especially after we have consolidated our relationship properly.

“Queen, your highness. Not gonna lie, but I hardly see how those titles really matter- your family was unable to prevent the fall of our glorious homeland,” Pulsar said nonchalantly. “And here you are, trying to make us join your failing crusade when the truth is clear to everyone’s eyes. Your cause, albeit just, isn’t worth fighting for. We have been born, lived and grown accustomed to this planet. It’s our home, our heaven away from the war you have waged against an invincible enemy.”

“He is not invincible,” Adela interjected. “Just very difficult to beat.”

“Oh, and where is the difference in that?” The Hamster Prime inquired sassily, once again making my temper only rise at how infuriating he was getting. “You mean to tell me that you believe in the chances that a monster of that caliber can be beaten?”

“Yes.”

…

“Hahaha~! What a comedian, lady!” The Hamster Prime remarked with an arrogant smile, finally giving a shake of head at that. “The Emperor killed some of the Gods. I don’t think it’s possible.”

“The Crests would be able to do the trick,” I muttered calmly. “But I suppose, you should know some more about this yourself, Ice Crest.”

…

“And you are smart… actually what are you? Never saw someone like you before.”

“I’m the rare cookie of the bunch. But still, the thing is that right now there isn’t even much of a choice for you to follow.”

The elder’s eyes narrowed at me. “We will not accept threats.”

“And yet the Empire is currently making its way towards your planet. Even if you try to use your camouflaging shield, the presence of visible ships will still attract attention to your planet,” I continued with a serious voice. “Nobody here is trying to threaten anyone. In fact, this effort of trying to bring the Crest together is the only way to beat the Empire once and for all.”

“And you think that will make us submit? You hardly seem to matter that much to begin with.”

I frowned, knowing that if I shoved too hard I was going to ruin our chances of recruiting Pulsar. A prick he might be, he didn’t seem arrogant or a full-fledged jerk on a closer inspection. So, instead of trying to win him through diplomatic means, I realized I had to take a more rooted solution here.

“I’m fairly strong, and I’m willing to show you,” I remarked. “But still, how about we make a deal? Something to settle what is going on between our factions?”

I believe I heard Adela facepalm hard when she heard what was going on, and what kind of plans I had in store for that very moment. It took ten minutes to set up the proper scenario for that unplanned fight. We were both without weapons since this was going to be a bare-handed fight.

The loud cheering mostly aimed at the champion that was supposed to prove that he was much stronger than me slowly grated on my nerves. The only saving grace being that the rest of the entourage that came with me was quick to offer their own cheering, giving me further reason to put an end to this as quickly as possible.

The area that was chosen for the brawl, a massive empty podium meant to host numerous matches at once would be used to host this competition. Pulsar looked incredibly certain of his victory. Size-wise, he was bigger, his muscles made him stronger and faster compared to me. I wasn’t exactly planning to joke around as I knew the last thing I needed was to give a reason to the two of us to be in serious need of being hospitalized. Now that we had found Ice, I wasn’t planning to allow this to go through without showing some display of my might.

Because my might wasn’t born just by physical prowess… no, there was a brain and tactical planning behind it. As he rushed towards me, looking ready to put an end to this shameful thing people thought was a serious fight, he tried to deal a devastating blow by slamming a powerful punch onto my stomach. At least, that was his plan if I hadn’t taken the time to predict his pace, and plan out an adequate reaction. His fist met air as I dodged to the right, putting myself close enough to deliver a careful combo I wasn’t sure was going to work. It all depended on whether Primes suffered concussions as easily as humans usually did.

The first hit of the combo was a jab that soared and slammed onto his chin. The reasoning behind such a simple blow wasn’t the purpose of inflicting damage to my opponent. No, my intentions were invisible to the normal eyes of spectators, and many of them had expected for Pulsar to easily recover from that ‘wimpy strike’. Sadly for them, that proved to not be the case.

My current foe _flinched_ and paused, his eyes slightly unfocused as he failed to register as I had yet to stop in my counter. My left hand, now closed in a tight fist, moved from its initial position, beside my hip, upward onto his lower jaw. The strike struck the silver-haired young man, his posture suddenly growing less tense as his mind continued to lose its grasp over the situation.

Finally, the last hit. A kick on his cheek. Pulsar’s legs were shivering at the absurd lack of focus he had over his actions and thoughts. He didn’t have much time to think beyond the fact that something was wrong before falling backwards in a sudden state of unconsciousness.

The modest ‘thud’ that signaled the end of the brief fight ended up drawing pure confusion out of most of the spectators as they silently digested the short spectacle I gave them to try and understand.

“I took him out by simulating a concussion.”

...

“How did you… do this?”

I stared at the elder with a surprised look, but it faded before the shock the old man was trying to push back. If I had to be honest, I bet nobody knew this was possible, and I had to thank a couple of Manga for having taught me about this interesting method for beating opponents of that size or more.

“The initial jab, the one that slammed into his chin, was meant to simulate the effects of a concussion. That’s why he stammered a little after that hit. It isn’t a sure guarantee, which is why I followed it up with an uppercut that, if not heightening the jab’s aftermath, created the effect itself in a cruder manner.”

“What about… the kick?” The elder continued to ask, and I sighed.

“The kick was to ultimately beat him. He was holding himself up through a concussion and, despite the fact I had hit him already, those strikes weren’t meant to inflict any damage. The kick was meant to use strength to defeat him.”

“You never used it against Carmesi,” Adela pointed out and I nodded in her direction.

“That’s because Carmie is faster and doesn’t have the same bulky frame as Pulsar.”

Adela nodded, looking convinced about what I had just said and… Grace hummed quietly before smiling at me as she noticed my gaze was aimed at her for a little while. With the battle over, and the community won over, the next steps proved to be incredibly crucial. The settlement had numerous civilian ships that were meant to house living units. So, trying to get everything packed and be settled became the next step. Even as many people didn’t want to leave the planet, it was clear that remaining now would only hurt them in the long run. The Elder was quick to connect dots really quickly when I gave him a stellar map that showed what the Empire was plotting to do in this area.

In a single day, the number of ships that were part of our fleet doubled in its number, but only a few were specialized in any form of warfare. 

Pulsar was then taken to our ship considering his status as a Crest. There were some brief clashes with the elder on the matter, but he had to concede when the promise of offering more in need of more cold cash. I expected to be spared from any bizarre problem after what happened today and… I was proven wrong as I paused while studying on some books by the living room when a wobbly-walking Pulsar, showing a determined grin, stared at me challengingly and showed that he was up for Round 2.

“ _**I want to fight again!** _”

_**Goddammit! I want to rest for once…** _

\-----------d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d----------

**Ice Crest Get!**

**Pulsar joins the Gang and next chapter will detail his first steps as part of the growing crew.**


	18. Muscles and Fluff

**Chapter 13: Muscles and Fluff**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

The fleet had grown in size, and, at the same time, the costs behind its upkeep increased as well. What resources we had stored to last for a couple months now only gave us less time than that. It wasn’t too troublesome since the new additions didn’t come without their own share of food and other materials. We weren’t going to starve anytime soon, but it did cause some schedules to be shifted in order to accommodate the circumstance.

Not the best situation, but so far it was a decent one to work with. After his last stunt which resulted in a demand for a Round two before seeing him fall face first on the ground due to stress, I had left the guy to rest for a full day. He was knocked out cold, yet he was pretty cool when I got the chance to visit him the moment he was awake. The Hamster Prime wasn’t as annoying as I initially imagined him being at waking up after such an anticlimactic defeat. What would have gotten many to react poorly in frustration, actually seemed to bring a degree of eagerness out of the Ice Crest.

“I just want to become super-strong,” He said with a dazzling smile and genuine determination in his voice.

I didn’t question this explanation too much, finding his interest in becoming stronger to be fairly similar to Carmesi’s own ambitions in some ways. While the Fox Prime leaned more into the sheer brutality, intensity, and passion of a fight, Pulsar was the one that knew when to not give up after a defeat, no matter how upsetting it may feel. I was quick to take care of him, and that wasn’t something that tended to leave anyone without a bruised pride to nurse up and worry about. Now, that pride could have been unimportant or barely noticed during a normal occurrence, but I knew well enough from my own experiences that when such humiliation comes out of nowhere, nobody is entirely prepared to grin at getting ‘slapped’ in such a manner.

Which is why, despite the honest words of him not minding joining the group after that swift defeat, I had Pulsar monitored by Archie. The Nanozell Spirit had already taken precautions on his own, but doubled the effort of keeping me informed in case anything too crazy happened. And, while the Ice Crest had to take some time to be back in full health, I personally took the initiative of keeping watch over Carmesi.

With the Hamster Prime showing no interest in engaging in any fights with the Crests aboard, I could only accept the theory that Carmie’s had it worse considering how uncontrollable her absolute power was. While she had gained fair control over it, the influence of the Crest itself was incredibly frustrating if she was quick to anger and pursue the elimination of the cause behind her sudden irritation. The Fox Prime was fighting it back the best she could, but that wasn’t something easy to accomplish.

I figured that we had to consult Apogeo the next time she visited. I could only hope that she knew what could be done to avoid any further unplanned meltdowns between the two Crests- or even prevent other problems by the time we managed to find the Water Crest. It was a wait and see situation that would take a lot to solve, but that hopefully would spare us a couple of problems in the near future.

Adela was the one least troubled by this circumstance, mostly because she trusted me and Archie to do a good job in preventing any catastrophes and… because she had other matters to face at the moment. The new entry of so many individuals to the banner meant more paperwork and more exchanges of messages between the representatives. I helped as best as I could, but found some of the topics discussed beyond my competency as those addressed laws I wasn’t familiar with, and which only Addie was capable of addressing with her knowledge on the matter. Still, I realized that it was agreed that an actual council would have been established to address any lasting issues about the integration of the newcomers.

In the meantime, there was a lot to learn from them. Starting with the fact that the reason why they hadn’t actually felt much of a problem to leave their planet. The truth was that they weren’t exactly settled on that planet. At least, not for long. Every ten to twenty years, their group would migrate to the closest habitable planet and make sure that the Empire had no way to exactly pinpoint where they were. The Imperial Fleet was constantly searching for anything around this area, perhaps having caught on some signals a long time ago and spending the most time patrolling the area for absolute certainty about the insignificance of that quadrant.

But what the planet-hopping ended up achieving was the creation of an impressive amount of studies about geographic environments and plants-based biology. They had a group of experts that were actually going to help us a lot in finding a proper planet where to convene the planned reunion between the various groups in our growing fleet. Still, that will have to happen until we broke through the Imperial Blockade and avoided any possible pursuits by one of the bigger ships.

With plans having been styled and a lot of time left to kill, training felt like the best development out of this uneventful wait. Everyone was sparing as much effort as their bodies could afford, and I took the role of giving Grace a tougher schedule to work on. The effects were immediate as she realized that it wouldn’t be as easy as it had been before I offered her a list of exercises she needed to do at least twice in each session.

The Love Crest started to really love the breaks in between the training sessions because of how tough her new schedule actually was. And with that matter settled, I had the chance to deal with my greatest challenge at the time. Carmesi was… angry. Not at herself, and not at anyone in particular. With her own Crest leaving her in the most frustrated state of mind possible because of Pulsar being in the ship, her focus was quite aggressive and difficult to steer away when she needed to shift to another exercise.

My vicinity seemed to somewhat lessen the worst of it as she tended to grow calmer the moment I pulled her to stop and remind her where she was and what she was doing. Carmesi’s breathing was heavy and erratic at times, but she seemed to easily recover every time I was there to bring her back to reality. She also seemed to hint at a need for some hugging, which I provided much to her quiet relief.

Eventually the training session had to end and we all took turns in the showers. Two individuals at the times, meant that I was still going to stick by one of the girls. While that had been embarrassing at first, I had begun to grow less embarrassed about it. I would still blush if my gaze ended up wandering in particular spots, but I was now well-prepared to handle that entire predicament.

This time around I was stuck with Grace. Addie decided to ‘spare me’ from facing Carmesi in such a state of mind while I had it ‘easy’ with the Love Crest. Despite her unending curiosity, the Gazelle Prime didn’t tease me in those circumstances. Sure, some misunderstandings would still happen due to her naivety, but those were rare and isolated cases.

The only contact I had with her was when she asked me to wash her upper back and in return she washed mine. No other intimate moments were spared as we quickly cleaned up and got out for the others to take their turns in the showers. We didn’t waste time in reaching the living room, waiting for the rest of the group to come so we could spend some time together by playing a tabletop game or something of that sort. We didn’t have much to do since paperwork had already been discussed, so today was going to be a ‘light’ day.

Settling down on the lone couch of the massive room, I frowned as Grace asked me to do her a favor. Something regarding a pleasant way to sleep that she wanted to experience herself and that she wanted me to help her with.

The girl hummed, her eyes closed as she happily enjoyed the lap pillow I was offering her. Nothing too awkward, but I guess there was an early issue in the form of us both trying to not get her horns to stab my chest as she settled down in that kind of position. She ended up lying with her belly up, and the back of her head resting on my legs.

“So, is ‘master’ accepting this little pampering?” I asked teasingly.

Her smile twitched, the Crest recognizing the mirthfulness behind my words.

“Yep,” She replied happily and I sighed.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

…

“Theo?”

I blinked, glancing down to look at Grace as I found her stare at me with curious pink eyes.

“Yes, Gracie?”

…

“Do you think my parents would be proud of… what I’m doing here and now? To… help others like this?”

That had come out of nowhere. I was surprised that this thought had come from her mind. Sure, Grace had mentioned a little while ago that she would have been quite happy to learn more about her family- to know who they were, what they did, what kind of people they were known as…

This curiosity, nothing too intense or strong behind that set of queries. So, when she asked me this with such interest, I knew that something was indeed off about the timing being the inquiry.

“I… I don’t know,” I replied, still digesting the suddenness of the question. “I guess they would be happy, but also worried.”

She blinked. “Worried?”

“Well, all parents tend to be worried about their children,” I elaborated with a nod. “It doesn’t even need to be a rational sense of worry- no, their concerns are… the result of Love, I suppose. The love they have for their children.”

“But why is… love such a reason to be concerned about?”

I gave her a heavy smile, since we were approaching a topic I wasn’t sure I was really up and prepared to face so suddenly and without much mental preparation.

“If any of us here in the ship, for some reason- I’m just drawing a scenario that isn’t happening right now, gets hurt and the way to heal them is not reachable as quickly as other solutions are for any illnesses or injuries, how would you feel?”

Grace frowned, her gaze moving to the ceiling above us. “I would be… upset? I think I would also be angry but… why would I be that angry?”

She might have not experienced these kinds of situations just yet, but I could tell that her Crest was actually offering her some insight on the matter for her to ponder about.

“Maybe it’s because you would feel furious at yourself for not having a solution for it yourself. Or maybe you feel somewhat responsible to it despite having no attachment to the problem itself,” I listed out with a hum. “Nonetheless, you are still going to worry about it until you care for someone. The amount of worry then is dependent on how much you love a person. Which is why parents, that have been around to see your birth and form that unique born between father, mother, and child, would be deeply concerned if you are put in a situation when you can face danger. It doesn’t mean you are going to face it, or get hurt in the process, only that you are in a predicament where you could actually be harmed.”

Realization seemed to fill her as she spared me with a nod.

“I understand now. So it’s like something that isn’t really… easy to grasp until you are put in a role like that, right?”

“Either that or by being on the receiving end of it,” I added somberly. “Right now… I can tell they… miss me as much as I miss them.”

She didn’t need to ask who ‘they’ were, with her attention growing sadder as she saw my grimace over this reminder. As much as I wanted to stay, I knew my parents still deserved an explanation and an answer to that unpleasant question that was definitely going to hurt them if I left for good the past without giving them the truth.

Instead of saying anything about it, Grace leaned up and pulled me in a simple hug. She wasn’t too strong about it, and the embrace wasn’t that tight. The purpose behind this sudden move was to prove that, despite the unpleasant thought I had to live with, that I wasn’t alone about it. I wasn’t the only one spending a moment of my life thinking that I’m missing someone. Some of them didn’t even have the chance of remembering their parents’ faces. They don’t know their names, their deeds, their voices.

It felt so unnatural to say now that I wasn't genuinely interested in seeing them again.

...

“ _**Uh… Boss? There is a situation in the gym.** _”

I blinked, pulling away from the hug and frowning at these words. The moment was ruined, but even the Love Crest knew that something big was happening from how nervous the Nanozell Spirit actually felt.

“What is it?”

“ _**Pulsar left the infirmary ward and... is currently engaging against Carmesi by the hallway in front of the room.** _”

I tensed up. “What?! Why didn’t you-”

“ **A mistake on my part, boss. I had my scans tracking him by his heartbeat, but he managed to slow it down just enough that I thought he was naturally low and… he got away while I was looking elsewhere.** ”

I sighed, feeling particularly annoyed by this situation. “We really need to plan things out better than just what just happened.”

“ **Yep… are you mad that I-** ”

“A little, but not at you,” I interrupted curtly, swiftly glancing back at Grace. “I guess now we have to stop two morons from making a mess out of this situation.”

The Love Crest nodded and we both stood up and moved to quickly see what we could do to prevent any disaster from actually happening.

The sight we were bestowed with as we arrived to see what was going on proved to be fairly…

_**Odd.** _

\-----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d------

When Archie had said something about Pulsar ‘engaging against’ Carmesi, I thought the two would have taken this opportunity to meet each other to actually fight.

I was surprised when I found them having a contest of sorts in the middle of the corridor, with Adela looking visibly uncomfortable as she was set in between the two morons. Grace was walking beside me and she shared my own confused look as we both tried to understand what was going on.

Both Crests were lifting their respective shirts, both showing at the other their lower chest. Glares were spared while the young Queen was panicking over what to do in that absurd situation she had been put in.

Addie looked at me, hope shining through her eyes as she directed the two idiots at us. I felt nervous as I felt their irritated stares now locked onto my frame. They advanced, still holding their shirt in a way that everyone could see their stomach.

They paused, giving me a long look and… I decided to bite.

“What are you two doing?”

“Proving to this bastard that he is a complete fool,” Carmesi replied with a snappy tone. “He said that he trained harder than I ever could, and that my ‘inferior’ abs are proof of it. Of course, he is a fucking fraud!”

...How is Pulsar even alive? Why hasn’t Carmie just burned him alive for questioning her training schedule?!

This argument left me incredibly confused, and the sudden proximity of two sets of abs had me quite distracted. I had seen the Fire Crest’s a lot in the last few weeks, but adding this sight with Pulsar’s undeniably good set was kind of jamming my brain. Too much awkwardness slamming into my head at once.

“Well, I’ve been training since I was able to walk. Look at how toned I am!” Pulsar replied coolly. “Ladies fall to my feet at how enticing those are.”

“Shallow women don’t make for good judges,” Carmesi rebuked fiercely. “But I can tell you that many have tried to catch my attention and have failed all because they couldn’t shrug their eyes away from my muscles!”

“Okay, am I hearing you right? You are making a competition about… abs?”

They gave a shared nod.

“Yes.” “That’s the thing.”

_...Oh well, now I have another thing to face while having these two around._

When I said these two were morons, I wasn’t exactly trying to say they were really dumb. Only that they were making a set of stupid decisions that they wouldn’t normally do. And yet, here and now, I couldn’t help but feel the adjective being spot on with the entire situation. Way too perfectly in my humble opinion.

“So you are fighting over this. Why?”

“Why not?” Pulsar pointed out. “She mentioned that she doesn’t expect me to last a single day of training, and refuse to recognize the fact that I’m at least good at fighting.”

“You were beaten in three hits,” Carmesi reminded me and I sighed.

“I could have beaten you with those three hits too if I had used that combo in a fight against you.”

…

“What?” The Fox Prime exploded in shock and annoyance. “I would never go down like that.”

“You seem to be forgetting what those strikes did on Pulsar,” I lamented quietly. “Sure, those strikes might have appeared weak, but the purpose was to induce a concussion. If your brain doesn’t work, then you stop being awake, aware, and capable of fighting back. If I had used that on you, you would have gone down just as easily as he did.”

“...” Carmesi decided against commenting on that, offering me the chance to resume my speech over the main topic. 

“Nonetheless, this competition is stupid. Like, I understand you need to compete, but we can try simple things that make sense. Like arm-wrestling, or some tabletop games.”

The Ice Crest looked fascinated. “What are these ‘Tabletop games’?”

“Something you would probably lose at,” Carmie shot back curtly. “Still, we need a serious answer. Which of us has the better set of abs.”

…

“The answer doesn’t exist in my opinion. You are asking me to judge using two non-equal examples,” I started to explain with a serious tone. “Carmie, you have an accelerated metabolism which allows you to eat as much as you need to train as aggressively as you normally do. Your frame is also smaller than Pulsar, which makes the ‘estimation’ quite frustrating to figure out.”

I turned to look at Pulsar.

“And you have a bigger frame than her. I believe Archie also confirmed your metabolism is slower, so you will take longer to burn up the fats coming from the food you consume. I guess you can be happy that you will be put through harsher training compared to Carmie.”

…

“Yay?”

I shook my head, and he seemed to realize that it really wasn’t good news for him. Despite that, I still went on about the matter and began addressing the conclusion of it all.

“To briefly summarize it all: I can’t judge between you two because your bodies are different for many reasons, all biological in nature,” I said with a nod. “So that’s why I can’t give you an answer. Because there isn’t one that seriously calls for a winner.”

…

…

“I think there is an actual answer,” Grace spoke up quietly, her voice still drawing the attention of the rest of the crew. I was perplexed by this as I hadn’t expected for someone to rebuke my points, and yet the Love Crest seemed to mean it. But what could she be referring to?

Carmesi frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve seen those a couple of times and I think those are by far the best,” The Gazelle Prime replied slowly and, for the first time ever, I saw Gracie actually having some trouble looking at anyone, preferring to stare at the ground because of the topic. I could tell that the attention was fairly embarrassing, but she didn’t seem much deterred by it beyond this detail.

I expected her to say the name already and spare the lengthy wait that it was slowly turning into. My prayers were answered positively… just not the way I had expected for those to unfold, if I had to be honest. Grace reached for my shirt and pulled up. It took me a moment to realize what she was trying to say with that gesture, and I felt my jaws drop as the others actually looked at my stomach and my abs. Training had been rough and intense enough to allow for muscles to form. I wasn’t a body-builder, but I had the physique to be a decent athlete.

I hadn’t given much attention to my own body as in admiring it the way the other people all around were in that moment. I just didn’t see a reason to pride myself on my physics when I had been the brain guy for so long. Now things were balanced and-

“I second the vote,” Adela replied without hesitation, a little grin on her face suggesting some interest in my exposed stomach.

“You… Is the training you plan to put me through going to get me that?” He asked surprised, but before I could even say anything, I felt a hand press onto my belly. Carmesi’s attention was completely taken by the sight before her.

It didn’t take long for Grace to copy the move and press one of her own hands on my abs… and then it was Addie’s turn. Pulsar decided to make his own contribution by pressing his index finger on one of the available spots and poke at my stomach, as if testing if it was all real and no tricks.

I felt aggravated by the sudden interest over my abs and… I should have just pushed them back. But considering how tense the situation had been with Carmie, I decided to concede this craziness to unfold only this once. I was determined to not allow for this to happen ever again. I really did.

Eventually the touching stopped, and I was freed from the stares of these dummies. The rest of the day revolved around giving Pulsar a quick tour of the ship before leading him back to the hospital bay to rest. While he had been able to walk around for a while, he was a little off from being able to truly wander off and stay in his new room.

He was still excited by the prospect of having his own big room to fill up with his stuff, to join training with us and be part of something ‘bigger than just being a mere guard’. He was going to be a tough guy to train into being serious when the times needed it, but I knew he was going just fine with proper hard work and discipline.

With that entire situation solved, I proceeded to check on Archie and see how he was doing. I knew that he was possibly worried of having done a poor job in his surveillance, but the truth was that the tools we used were just too lenient and we hadn’t taken into account how good Pulsar was with his Ice-based powers.

The moment I entered the room, I was greeted with a scary sight. Archie was… slumping on his chair, eyes closed and seemingly fallen asleep without any indication. I rushed to his side to check on him and the sudden movement ended up waking him up.

“U-Uh, what?” He tensed up, his panic swelling only for a couple of seconds before he realized what happened. “Oh, boss… I didn’t expect you to come here.”

“Is everything alright?” I inquired quickly, worry dripping from my words and causing the Nanozell Spirit to frown. “You were sleeping.”

“I was just taking a break,” He replied slowly. “I’m sorry if I stopped and-”

“No, it’s not that. I was just… surprised that you were taking a break,” I pointed out. “I mean, you never mentioned taking breaks at this hour.”

“It’s… a new thing I’m trying out,” Archie admitted. “I know that it sounds suspicious, but I was only trying to see if I could switch sleep schedules so to keep up with my duties.”

…

“I mean it.”

“I never said you weren’t,” I remarked and he huffed.

“Well, you are giving me the very look that didn’t accept my reasoning and believes that there is more to it.”

I sighed. “Is there any problem you are having, Archie?”

…

“Maybe?”

“Archie-”

“It’s more complicated than that,” The spirit interrupted. “I know this sounds weird, but things are fine. I’m just a tiny ickle bit tired.”

…

“I don’t mind if you need some sleep-”

“But what if something bad happens?

Indeed, what were we supposed to do if he wasn’t quick enough to pull the ship away from danger the moment things went down?

…

I blinked, realizing just now that the situation was literally in the cockpit.

I silently walked up to one of the empty chairs in front of the command terminal and sat down. Archie stared at my moves, but he seemed incredibly confused when I gave a soft pat to my lap as I gestured to him to sit down there.

“Boss? What are you trying to say now?”

“The answer to your issue is quite simple,” I explained calmly. “I will stay there for as long as you need to sleep and recover for the next few hours.”

…

“What?”

“I think you heard me right,” I remarked. “You need some sleep, and, if I stay in this room while you are resting, I can speak with you directly and wake you up just in time to avoid any trouble while you are sleeping.”

“Yes, but...” Archie sighed. “Boss, I need two hours, fifteen minutes, and ten seconds to get charged up to take on my duties.”

I nodded. “Then you will have that much time to rest. I don’t think anyone will mind if I remained in here to get you to rest peacefully and calmly.”

It didn’t take long for the Nanozell Spirit to surrender to this very idea. Sitting on my lap and nuzzling his face on my chest, Archie fell asleep just moments after taking that comfy position. I had taken the blanket that he had used to cover himself while previously sleeping and put him around his body, stopping a little below his neck.

I stared down, relieved that he looked so peaceful. I felt a yawn coming, yet I managed to keep awake for the duration of my stay in the cockpit. I was tired once this was over, but considering how much Archie had done for us, I didn’t mind offering him some rest to be up and ready to face any new treats without feeling the pressure exerted by those around him to weaken his resolve and cause him to lose some of his quality.

 _ **I ended up going to bed earlier than usual… but I would soon receive visitors in the form of the girls all coming to sleepover.**_ _**Truly a tiring day this one is...**_

\-----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d------------

**AN**

**N** **ow the big question. Who has the best abs?**


	19. Multi-tasking Love

**Chapter 14: Multi-tasking Love**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

Training with Pulsar proved to be tougher than expected.

Maybe I could have built up some ‘hope’ in the chances of him being easier to convince to do tasks if it was all about training to become ‘awesome’ and strong. I was unfortunately proven wrong when he began distracting himself rather easily in the middle of training, creating some awkward developments in each session.

Smart as he might be, his attention span was incredibly short and easy to be redirected at the silliest elements in the room. Sometimes it was the training achievements made by the girls, others were just weird moments between spars. Tripping on himself, sliding off on the ground by overusing his Ice powers too much, or even dumbly rushing into hits. I figured that it would be a real challenge to get him to think only about the action during fights, but I was quite sure he was making some progress after some intense training to get his attention aimed on where he needed to.

At the same time, Pulsar was a new voice I was willing to listen to in some circumstances that I had ignored until now. Before his ‘arrival’, I was limited when it came to have a male friend in the crew. I had few issues with the girls, nor I was trying to exclude Archie from that small group of people that I was encompassing as ‘male friends’… but there were reasons to be needy of a blunt opinion on a couple of personal questions I had been keeping to myself for a while.

And those questions weren’t meant to be asked to the girls due to the topics they stemmed from, and I figured that the Nanozell Spirit wasn’t exactly geared to handle a serious conversation about social situations. Which is why I felt that Pulsar was the best man to give me a truthful answer to some of these queries I had been keeping away from the others.

So, as we hit the showers together while the girls were already done and going to wait for lunch, I took this opportunity to speak with him about these matters. It didn’t take much for him to listen and… listen as I gave out a summarized version of the situation as I knew it. It also didn’t take long for him to come with a simple but well-condensed opinion on the matter.

“If I was you, I would call myself lucky.”

“...Why?”

“Three girls trying to get your heart? I mean, I can say the Queen has made the most progress, but the others are definitely not giving up on that front,” He further added, increasing the confusion I had growing within me. “But seriously, you don’t see how the two others look at you? It’s clear they are trying to be more than merely friends with you.”

“Even though I’m already in a relationship with their Queen?”

“It wouldn’t be unheard off for Primes to seek intimate comfort beyond standard relationships,” Pulsar admitted. “I remember my grandfather saying how the journals of our ancestors were quite clear about this custom of our society. Love and understanding were the pinnacle to avoid conflict, even if the bonds born from those agreements were odd and sometimes clashing with what we were keen to define holy connections to a being to another.”

“So… you are saying that it would be fine for someone to be together with others if the partner is aware of this? That they would be… open to this?”

“That’s as far as I know about Prism’s culture. I don’t know myself if they are exactly aware of this- maybe Adela is, but still… you should give it a thought.”

…

“I just… can’t think of it as a viable option. Not when it’s about romance,” I replied quietly. “I mean, I understand what you are saying if it was just all about… sex. But it isn’t. Not when they have strong feelings towards me.”

“Why?”

I blinked, frowning at him. “Why? Well… a romantic relationship isn’t just being lovey-dovey and the rest of ‘happy things’ that comes with it. There is… more to it. There is a serious commitment that can easily bring the best and the worst out of people,” I explained with a serious tone. “It’s all about being respectful, kind, but… also trusting. Sometimes you don’t even have a choice to know what your lover wants or thinks, and that is… always a big risk. Now imagine all that, and then multiply it by 3.”

The Hamster Prime flinched at hearing that. “Fair enough, that sounds incredibly complicated. Never been much of a romantic partner, always kept myself to short relationships.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” I commented with a shrug. “Still, thank you for being honest about it.”

“No problem, brother. It’s only natural for guys like us to try and avoid getting outnumbered by the chicks,” The Ice Crest replied mirthfully. “And I owe you for helping me with the training. So I guess this even things up.”

I could only nod at that logic, and soon we were done with the shower. After that conversation, I was feeling a little more confident in handling the entire situation I was in. Even as I prepared lunch, I could see the girls stealing glances in my general direction. While Grace’s were the tamest, and Addie was particularly moderate with hers, Carmesi was definitely the one that was the most active of the trio.

The Fox Prime just seemed to take it upon herself to be blunt with her emotions. Intense long stares, filled with raw interest and attention. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her for long while trying to keep up with my clueless act. I was surprised I hadn’t noticed that those weren’t just silent demands from her to suddenly spar. Or maybe those were and I was now labeling everything I saw of that degree of attention worthy of being considered love-related glances.

Eventually my tension ended up growing the more I tried to think up how I was actually supposed to handle this entire ordeal. While I managed to keep fairly adamant about my opinion over what I said to Pulsar, I couldn’t help but allow my curiosity to raise a couple of ‘what ifs’ that were slowly but certainly gaining a foothold inside my head.

What if we actually worked out common points and somehow managed to get a stable relationship?

What if I was being too cautious and actually taking a route that was going to hurt us all in the process?

And finally, what if I was thinking too much to dissuade myself about my current stance on the matter?

The last one struck me the hardest since it was clear I was letting the intensity of the situation get to my head and making me take a silly contemplation I actually didn’t need to go through with. The subject was clear, the solution should be blatantly easy to grasp at, and yet I was foolish enough to not imagine that I would nonetheless be reluctant about this choice.

Because all in all, no matter the road taken, I was going these two. It was all about how long and how much pain I ended up delivering with my decision. Not a fun situation for me to handle, especially when I sucked this hard on relationships of this caliber.

But while I was keen to waste time thinking about it, I was given evidence that someone else had decided to take a completely different approach from mine. I was sitting on the couch reading some journals about Prism when I saw a quiet Carmie stealthily plop down on the seat beside me. I paused reading as soon as I realized that she was looking at me and… waiting for me to give her some attention.

“Yes?”

“Spar?”

I sighed. “You could have asked earlier this morning.”

“I wanted it to be away from others while they were training. A serious spar. With a bet,” She added with a serious voice, and I frowned even more at her determination with that request.

“I thought we agreed that Adela would have to-”

“Oversee any of that,” The queen hummed from the nearby table, finishing scribbling some papers. “Yes, I told her that and we both agreed that it could be done once in a while. And this is the moment.”

I felt confused by this very comment, not expecting the young woman to be open to entertain this awkward situation. I could see the two sharing a look and… I felt like I was walking up to a trap from the looks of it. Still, I offered a slow nod.

“I guess we can spar but… on what conditions?”

“I win, I get to decide what to do with you,” The Fire Crest elaborated. “Likewise, I lose and you get to do this to me.”

“Sounds rather generic… and fairly open to interpretation,” I accused flatly, turning my attention to Adela. “What are you two planning right now?”

“Nothing bad,” The queen swiftly replied, sparing me no odd reaction at the sudden question. “In fact, I can say you will like it.”

…

I doubted things would be that easy, but I still went through with that. I could just tell that it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it being. Addie might be a woman that loves to tease, but she was still someone that knew to not put too much pressure onto me about something she wasn’t sure about myself. I decided to trust them both on this matter and I slowly began regretting being this accepting of their idea.

The moment I entered the small training ground dedicated to spars I knew that, within Carmesi’s stance, she was up to actually put everything to win this one out. I was… concerned and confused by this take on the challenge. Normally the spars with bets we had in the last few weeks weren’t as serious as this one, always going for the goofy side of the bets and… with me winning all the time.

Right now, I felt like I had a serious possibility in losing that fight and coming to regret what was going to come out of this if I didn’t take a serious approach to it. A regret that was perhaps going to stretch to both Adela and Carmie. With the young Queen swiftly beginning the fight, I didn’t hesitate in taking a stance that was best suited to handle aggressive brawlers like Carmesi.

I was quite sure the Fox Prime’s reason to be this quick in taking an offensive stance when possible was tied to her choice of weapon. Short swords, those things required to have their user close and personal with the enemy as rapidly as the user could. Which is why the best way to handle this kind of encounter was to take a posture that hovered about counterattacks.

The moment she threw the first hit and then got answered with a jab slamming into her chin, I could see in her surprised eyes that the realization that this wasn’t going to be as easy as stealing candy from a kid as she had hoped for. It took her four more efforts to land some meaningful damage and being repelled each time with calm but unforgiving counters to come to terms that she had to play smart if she wanted to win against me.

Activating her Fire magic was the simplest route for her to take, which is why I relied on the fact that she couldn’t make full use of her growing powers within the enclosed space we were in. She had to be controlled if she didn’t want some of her own attacks to harm her in the long-term, which meant that I would have to just dodge, use my own basic understanding of Fire magic to deflect some of the flames away and eventually hit when possible.

It was all going well for me through these first twenty minutes. Then I was reminded that Carmie was no brute in a battle, especially when she was aware of the kind of tactical mind I had at my disposal. Just as I grew confident with my current stance, she revealed something I hadn’t really seen her use until that point. Maybe it was because I had focused a lot more in training both Gracie and Pulsar in recent time, and I didn’t exactly take any time seeing what kind of experiments she was doing to expand her fighting style even more than she was capable of before starting to train.

And here I was, being given a full glimpse of what she had been working on for a long time from the looks of it. I didn’t even manage to realize what happened as I failed to bring my arms up to guard at the sudden jab hitting my left cheek. In that moment, my brain rapidly tried to recover from that unexpected pain and I forced myself into a more defensive approach.

Something about her moves had changed without notice. I tried to push her to try to hit me again, which happened, and then, as I moved to counter her by her open posture, I was struck with another hit on the face. I backed away, this time feeling some more pain at the second hit she managed to get through my defense. A big grin was plastered on her face as she finally found her comeback.

And it was very awkward to defend against. I didn’t try to pierce onto her defense since I saw how poorly it fared, but that decision backfired as she took this as an incentive to put extra heat in her attacks. Faster and more unforgiving, I finally took notice of what had really changed within her attacks.

It wasn’t a difference of stance, it wasn’t even the addition of flexible novelties to her own style. She… just stopped packing excessive strength behind each hit. That was it. What really meant was that, by lessening the power and the weight of her punches and kicks, she made herself faster and more reactive than before.

My previous advantage had now turned into a disadvantage. I was nowhere as fast as Carmesi was with her take on a more balanced approach during the battle. Her speed was just a step beyond what I had predicted through the last time we trained, and right now I was paying for that cockiness I had been feeling until that very moment.

I was no longer in control of the fight as she retaliated for the damage she suffered earlier during the brawl and… eventually this faded away the moment I picked up her speed and reaction time, learning when to defend and react to her feints and when not to.

Two hours. I was barely standing up at the sheer strain I had put my body in and Carmie looked to be in a shape similar to mine. Her entire body was shaking, a mix of tiredness and excitement burning within her as she felt that we were approaching the end of this seemingly endless battle. It was now or never.

The Fire Crest rushed, her entire right arm bathed in flames as she tried to secure her win by overwhelming me with that impressive display of Fire magic. I gritted my teeth as I knew that I couldn’t just block that attack like the others, and I was starting to feel the strain after using my own reserves to dispel some of the flames aimed at me before this last ditch effort. I had a small opportunity to succeed, and… it all came to a very difficult maneuver that was as risky as silly.

Yet I didn’t have energy and mind to come up with a brighter idea. I was too spent to get anything fun running in such a limited amount of time and… I prepared to dodge. I saw the fire punch rushing towards my face, ready to burn me up… only to fail as Carmie willingly allowed the fist to move towards my shoulder and give me the chance to make my last attempt of winning this one out.

Her body tensed up as I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close and holding her tight in that sudden hug. Her attack completely missed me, and the moment she crashed onto me, her magic faltered together with her concentration. She didn’t push away, almost accepting the embrace on the spot and, much to my surprise, slumping onto me as soon as her brain realized what was going on.

I was quickly forced to withstand her full weight, which was no easy feat for me to get through considering I wasn’t in top shape at that very moment. I glanced at Adela, the Coyote Prime already huffing and approaching us both.

“I got you,” The young queen muttered, almost replying to the silent question I was giving her with my eyes. “I guess I was hoping for too much.”

That last bit had me frowning. “You… what?”

“Nothing. But I guess you will want to ask more once I bring you both to the hospital bay.”

…

I sighed. “I want to know what got you to help Carmie about this? What are you two planning?”

“As I’ve said, nothing bad. But it’s fairly important.”

I held back a groan as I allowed Addie to handle most of the Fox Prime’s weight herself. I helped with just enough so I could manage walking together with her to our next destination. I was tired, and… I wasn’t in the mood to ignore the questions that had been there since the fight had begun.

_**What kind of agreement is going on with these two?** _

\------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d---------

Lying on the bed beside the one occupied by a sleeping Carmesi, I glanced at a nervous-looking Adela.

I had my arms crossed and pressing by my chest, carefully enough to not press too much onto my ribs since, well, my entire body was in a particularly annoying state of pain. It was more about soreness than else, and yet it was enough to be irritating and distracting. It still wasn’t enough to be unable to think straight, but I was being rather fixed on a single topic at the moment. And that was the words the young Queen had just uttered and that I just couldn’t stop silently thinking about.

“We could try for an open relationship,” She said with a convinced tone. “I know Carmesi, and I know we have a particularly tight bond after so much has passed since we first come together.”

I just couldn’t think up a good way to rebuke that argument. Not because I didn’t know how to reply properly to it, but rather I was trying to find a way to deliver something that wasn’t going to hurt anyone in the process. A tough scenario I wasn’t prepared to handle. I had dabbled into paperwork behind this entire endeavor against the empire, and despite that, I was unprepared for the kind of madness I had to delve into to avoid a full collapse of everything.

“What kind of ‘openness’ are you suggesting?” I finally inquired, feeling like I had a route to take to perhaps dissuade the young woman from going through with this.

“Romantically,” She curtly answered. “I understand that it’s what you truly might find… difficult to stand with. You look fairly reluctant about approaching this option.”

“Because humanity had minor experiences with polygamy and none of those are considered positive,” I remarked calmly. “Do you want to know why?”

…

“Yes.”

I sighed. “An intimate relationship that entails more than two individuals together generally works better in non-romantic circumstances. Many rulers had concubines, women that were considered mistresses and thus beneath a main wife,” I started to explain. “Inequality. Something that Love just can’t allow to exist without people hurting because of it.”

“Carmesi isn’t beneath me. I might be queen-”

“But you are too good of a person to actually think of that. No matter the traditions, no matter the privileges that would demand you to set a difference. I know that,” I interrupted politely. “That isn’t what I’m trying to mean with my words. Quite the contrary actually. If polygamy works through inequality because there has to be a specific scenario that doesn’t allow competition, do you know what happens when most of the lovers are of the same sex and are put on the same pedestal by the element that ties them all together?”

…

“They compete. Not out of greed for the other, but rather because in their minds they deserve to appear unique to the eyes of the one judge they want to be praised by,” I replied to my own question. “You would never want to be above others in a relationship like this, yet you would want to be considered as Adela rather than just ‘First Lover’. You want to be unique, not out of greed but out of a right that everyone is blessed with since birth and should be blessed as something second only to the right of life itself. The right to be happy.”

Addie’s lips twitched at the point I just raised. It wasn’t difficult to find an undeniable agreement out of my words. While it was true that Primes might have enjoyed polygamous relationships in the past, that I doubted extended to romantic ones. There were just too many disadvantages behind that element, and I knew that it just couldn’t be explored as a viable way.

…

“What if you are wrong?”

I blinked. “Um?”

That felt coming out of nowhere. Sure, I did expect some unwillingness from her part to accept my perspective, but surely she just couldn’t think that it was actually possible. I knew Addie well enough to doubt that was actually the case.

“What if you took the entire polygamy element from the wrong perspective?” She elaborated. “You mentioned what sounds to be a harem.”

“That’s because what most polygamous relationship comes from. A single guy, or a single girl, handling a group of lovers of the opposite sex.”

“But that’s not what I was bringing up with the whole ‘open relationship’,” Adela corrected with a frown. “What I meant is that we could try and create a relationship where we all love each other.”

…

“Ah?”

“Let me put this in perspective. I love you, you love me, you love Carmie, Carmie loves you, I love Carmie, Carmie loves me.”

…

“Oh. I think… I understand. You mean you want to try and-”

“Try having an open relationship with you and Carmie. You both are family, I think Gracie will possibly join that too,” The young queen added. “Which is why I want to know what you think about this before going completely for it.”

This wasn’t an easy decision. She was making a fair argument that I hadn’t taken under consideration until she brought it up. I thought a relationship in this complex would have been mostly doable only as a harem. And it was with that realization that I finally noticed why I hadn’t thought of it in the way Adela was proposing it.

Humans would never agree to something based on absolute trust. Not beyond fiction. It was impossible to find the kind of people that would be keen to accept this kind of relationship and I knew, within myself, that the uniqueness of the entire scenario I was in actually allowed for this bond to exist and… maybe even grow into a stable relationship between us all.

I was stunned by this development, but perplexed nonetheless. Would that actually work? I was rather sure it would- but… what if I wasn’t looking at the real issue behind the feasibility of such circumstance? Did Carmesi love Adela in a romantic way? Did Adela actually see Carmie as a potential Lover? Or was the queen just trying to lie her way out of my reluctance?

I glanced at her, trying to see if she was lying to me here and now. Only to pause and realize that there was a degree of seriousness that erased any doubt I had about her genuineness on the subject. So… when did this new detail start to be part of the entire equation? When did Addie start to love Carmie and when did Carmie start to love Addie?

I fished within my memory, finding very small elements that, if left alone, made zero sense. And yet now that I assembled within that bizarre puzzle I was building out of that insane situation actually had a logic connecting them all. Compliments, praises, shared teasing and… much more to it. Maybe I really hadn’t taken notice of this situation and that would also broaden the fact that it wasn’t exactly that big of a decision for me to make. It wasn’t even a decision that should matter beyond the two other girls since we were equally stuck in that very predicament. Before I could actually formulate an answer to this very compelling offer, our attention was stolen as I saw someone approaching from the entrance.

Gracie was smiling eye-to-eye while holding a small box, following shortly behind a giddy pulsar that was munching at a tiny white-bread sandwich filled with apple jam from the substance color. The Love Crest had gone out of her way to prepare some snacks while we spent some time here in the hospital bay. The two ‘intruders’ decided to settle nearby and entertain some light conversation, clearly unaware of the serious discussion I was having with Adela.

A single stare shared between the two of us confirmed that this situation was far from over, and with this distraction I could now have the time to ponder about this big issue with all the calm and the peace I could get out of this brief visit in the infirmary. Nothing was broken and I was mostly sore, so I knew that a few hours spent there and I would have been able to get dinner ready.

In fact, Carmesi managed to stand up properly after just three more hours of sleep. Of course, she was quick to ‘forget’ about the bet we had about the sparring session, and I decided to not remind her of it just yet as I knew bringing that up would also be a good way for her to start a conversation about the things I was trying to agree with Adela.

It was tough as it could be to handle this with just the queen, trying to bring someone like Carmie on the fold over this entire debacle was just going to cause some serious issues out of little details. So I could only take precautions to prevent any of that to be brought up during dinner. The problem? Addie decided to pay a visit to my room and she decided to spend the night there. And she was very keen to remind me how much ‘she trusted me and believed in my judgment’.

_**That was just a prick’s move considering how much pressure I already had on myself. Still… What am I supposed to do?** _

\-----------------d-d-d-d------------

**AN**

**Not Harem but… something different? Truly some maddening time before the next Crest comes by.**

  
  



	20. Interlude 5

**Interlude 5**

**Beta-Reader: Ant0nius**

Pulsar woke up from his bed with a mission in mind.

This mission was the same as the previous days ever since he joined this group of strong warriors trying to do the right thing. Day in and day out; all that was done was Train, Train, Train. Maybe also beat the Fire Crest at some of the exercises, get some advice from Theo and ultimately get better at what he knows how to do best.

That was a simple plan to follow and a flawless one too. A grin plastered on his face, the Hamster Prime bolted from his room and rushed to get some breakfast so he could shift his attention right at his main priority. Humming and eagerly awaiting to face his rivals in a fight, Pulsar was caught off-guard when he spotted a scene most confusing. As he moved to reach the table so he could happily get to his meal which was ready for him to enjoy, he paused the moment he noticed that everyone there had already eaten their breakfast and… were talking about boards and pawns?

His frown deepened as he began looking at each of the crew members one at the time. First was Theo, the human quietly explaining to Grace how to operate what looked to be a board with unusual pieces. One side was black, the other white, but the pieces on each side were similar to one another. His gaze quickly moved to Carmesi, the Fox Prime having her head in her hands as she failed to compute her clear defeat before a giddy-looking Adela that was happily scoring a win against the Fire Crest.

Pulsar wasn’t sure what was going on- heck, he was incredibly bamboozled by the fact the four were lost in what looked to be a fun but complicated game and, while he was unsure how it was supposed to work, he couldn’t help but feel that the four felt incredibly… invested into it. Especially when he saw a begrudging Carmesi leaned in to land a tiny peck on the young queen’s cheek. His jaws dropped, his blue eyes widened and…

_I want to play as well!_

Just as he mentioned this, his attention was taken away by a nearby giggle. The Ice Crest turned to the origin of it and saw Archie waving, with a board with pieces already set on the table right beside his meal.

“Wanna learn how to play chess?”

The young man sure wanted to. While at first he was driven just by a sense of curiosity, soon he began picking up a genuine interest into the mind-based game. It definitely was a different taste he was trying when it came to challenges, but it wasn’t that boring as he expected it to be from the rules. There was a sense of… amusement in going through multiple matches, despite the fact he was being annihilated by the giddy Spirit. Archie was quick to mention that this game was quite unforgiving without several defeats, and he could see why. With each defeat, he slowly understood how one small mistake could lead to a serious loss. Pulsar had never thought much of strategy, mostly because he never had a reason to study it as an essential topic. But since he was meant to be one of those individuals that were going to be leading the forces of ‘good’ against the Empire, it was easy for him to understand that a form of military mind had to be developed.

Fighting was nice, but losing people because he was caught unaware in that duty felt… incredibly bitter. And it didn’t help that he sucked at something that Archie had defined as a ‘simplistic view to a war’. Which is why Theo thought that them learning more about chess was actually a priority. If they were at least decent in ordering well-enough the pieces to a decent win or defeat, then that meant they would have the basic knowledge of leading an army. There was much more to learn to properly be a leader, but chess was the starting ground and Pulsar took his time to learn its rules and the various hidden laws within the game.

The various kinds of pieces were meant to represent different task forces with specific specializations which were meant to be exploited in the best and most accurate way to not lose neither the pieces themselves nor the ‘war’. He was so focused into understanding what moves he had to take to lessen the losses to a minimum, that he failed to realize that with each try, Archie was actually taking more time to beat him. The cheeky smile on the short spirit soon vanished as he found even more trouble against Pulsar.

The Ice Crest’s attention had become fully devoted to the game, to a point where he was drawn more and more into the bizarre sense of amusement he felt with the feeling of getting closer to success. A grin worked its way to his face, and soon Archie was absolutely stumped by what was unfolding before him. Beyond that struggle… a pause, a tiny break from the real action as Pulsar silently retreated his right hand away. He stared up at the Nanozell Spirit, the floating being giving him a surprised look before turning to gaze down at the board.

In a twist of events well-beyond his understanding, Archie couldn’t help but see that this was his loss. Pulsar’s grueling path to glory had gone for a full hour, and, much to the spirit’s surprise, right now he wasn’t able to move his King away without getting cornered. As much as he tried to, the board was stacked against him.

“This sucks...”

“Aha! I got you!” The Hamster Prime eagerly exclaimed, making Archie groan even further at the unexpected development. And soon the two realized that their latest game had gained the attention of the rest of the crew.

“H-How is he doing that?!” Carmesi whispered furiously, her eyes wide open in utter shock at the sight. “He tripped on himself twice while practicing the same standard kick. How is he doing this?!”

“He is not flexing, and he looks quite focused on the situation,” Theo muttered with a nod, surprised himself at the sight. “As absurd as it might sound, I believe he is a fast learner when it came to this kind of game.”

“Poor Archie, he should have expected that he was playing with… fire, hehe,” Grace commented mirthfully.

Finally, Adela stared at the scene with a frown. “To think he was hiding this much cleverness.”

“Street smarts aren't exactly easy to find under normal circumstances. Plus… he really seems rather taken by chess.”

The Ice Crest could only grin at the shower of compliments as he really had gone out of his way to achieve this win. No hesitation, nothing too flashy, just him being… AWESOME!

And just as he gleefully accepted the praises, his attention was soon taken away by a new individual he had never seen until that moment.

“That was quite an impressive move from your part, Pulsar,” A familiar voice called, yet Pulsar himself was confused.

“Uh? Who is- woah!”

His jaws dropped as, right to their left side, a gorgeous spirit stood while giving him the kindest of smile. A mere glance and he felt his heart burning in surprise and… it was like when he had the chance of first seeing a hot woman. He was blushing a tiny bit at her beauty, so much that he was stunned into silence because of it.

The spirit giggled. “Apologies, I didn’t mean to interrupt the scene.”

“I don’t believe you created any trouble, Apogeo,” Theo warmly greeted. “Would you like a coffee?”

The floating woman nodded, her smile widening at the lovely offer. “I would be most happy if I had a warm cup.”

The Ice Crest stared and stared, only for his face to be assaulted by an annoyed Archie.

“Stop ogling. That’s my mom!”

His jaws dropped at the accusation, and he spluttered apologies out of mere instinct, both dummies unaware of the amusement this exchange was giving to the rest of the people nearby. An amusing sight that lifted Apogeo’s hopes up.

_**Especially now that their first real fight was soon going to see them give their all to win through the clutches of the Empire.** _

\-----------d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d--------

**AN**

**Next time… a serious space battle! And things get really tough for our heroes!**


End file.
